"We hope that [the plan] doesn't just remain half-hearted as has been the PSD's prerogative", stated João Cotrim de Figueiredo today at the end of a visit to the company Polivouga, in Albergaria-a-Velha, in the district of Aveiro.

The Action Plan for Migrations presented today by the Portuguese Government provides for a budget increase of 15 million for the sector, an effort that will be added to its own revenues and community funds, announced the Minister of the Presidency.

Despite considering some of the approximately 40 measures announced by the PSD Government "quite vague and laconic", the candidate for MEP assumed he was pleased with the extinction of the processes by expression of interest, a proposal that the IL suggested.

"We are pleased to note that it was included in the final design of this plan because, basically, it restores the requirements to what they were before 2017 and are a good example of what we have been saying on this matter, as in others, that we can neither depend on good intentions nor on major prohibitions", he stressed.

The liberal mentioned that "of the 600 thousand people who have pending issues at AIMA, two thirds are certainly for expression of interest, which seems like a very humane and facilitating process, but which generated this authentic confusion that everyone is witnessing and with which no one agrees".

The IL candidate also noted with satisfaction the rapid recovery of pending issues at the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration (AIMA), something that several political forces had been asking for.

In this sequence, Cotrim de Figueiredo once again criticised the extinction of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) because the creation of a new entity had to be "very well prepared", something that did not happen.

Despite being satisfied with these two measures, Cotrim de Figueiredo revealed that he was not convinced by the reinforcement of consular services in the countries of origin.

"I would like to stress, almost as a warning, that I am not convinced that what is designated as the reinforcement of consular services in the countries of origin is sufficient to avoid something that would, from our point of view, also be very negative, which is transferring a situation of human indignity of people who are already in the national territory to the same type of indignity of people who cannot use Portuguese consular services in their territories of origin", he stressed.

Therefore, Cotrim de Figueiredo hopes that the plan for migrations is "taken to the end", namely with regard to the reinforcement of consular services.

In his opinion, it is necessary to make progress in relation to migrations because it is "a problem that has to be resolved and faced" and a topic "that cannot be exclusive to the extreme right.

And it has to be resolved by starting to comply with the rules that are already in force, and this plan, he added, largely does that.

In the official presentation of the plan, António Leitão Amaro explained that the set of measures "is not against anyone", but to "resolve a very serious challenge that Portugal has", which involves the needs of immigrants and restoring the demographic imbalance.

In total, the plan will cost approximately 80 million euros, which includes the budget increase, funds from community funds related to the European migration pact and border security projects, but also the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration's (AIMA) own revenues.

[News updated at 19:48]

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