In comments to Portuguese journalists during an organised visit to EU institutions Natasha Bertaud, a spokeswoman for the commission on the priorities of its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, stressed that “one of the fundamental principles” of the relocation system for refugees “is that no EU countries can choose who is distributed”. For example, “it cannot say if it prefers women, Christians or Muslims."

Under the commission's scheme, Portugal has so far received about 800 people from camps in Italy and Greece, she noted.

Bertaud's comments came in the wake of reports form the Associated Press agency that Greece had rejected a request from Portugal to receive Yazidis, because it considered it to be discriminatory.

The commission spokeswoman refused to comment on Greece's position, but recalled that member states “cannot select” any characteristic among people who are “eligible” under the programme, other than that they “need protection”.

In response to the AP reports, Portugal's official responsible for the subject, Eduardo Cabrita, stressed that the reception in Portugal of 30 people from the Yazidi community – which was announced earlier on Wednesday – forms part of the EU programme and is not the result of any other specific request.

“There is a European programme [that was] decided in September of 2015 that involves the relocation from refugee camps in Greece and in Italy," he said. "In that framework there were members of the Yazidi community who are in camps in Greece who expressed interest in being relocated to Portugal, and Portugal accepted."

Ana Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European Parliament who has long campaigned on behalf of the Yazidi community, described the allegations of discrimination as absurd.

Portugal's foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, said that Portugal had not made any specific request to receive refugees from any particular community.