“The migratory change we have seen in Portugal and the very large increase in immigration in recent years is one of the biggest demographic changes the country has experienced since the last century”, said the minister, on the side lines of another debate in the conference series “Lisbon - A City for All”, this time on immigrants.
In 10 years, the number of foreigners has quadrupled in Portugal and has created “a challenge for decades. We will be discussing the consequences and how to deal with this demographic change for decades”, said the minister.
“People are aware today that, in Portugal, there was a period of wide-open doors, when many people entered and when the State and the community were not prepared to receive them adequately”, he highlighted.
“There was inhumanity in the treatment of those who arrived and there was a sense of unease among those who were here, Portuguese and foreigners”, recalled the minister, who a year ago presented the Action Plan for Migration, which included 41 measures for the sector, the main one being the end of expressions of interest, a legal resource that allowed regularisation in Portugal even without a work visa and which was used massively by many foreigners.
“There was a government that changed its policy, always with a moderate logic”, with “more regulation and more control, in which laws have consequences and in which integration is seen as a right of those who arrive, but also as a duty to integrate”, explained Leitão Amaro.
With this “path of moderation,” it will be possible to avoid “becoming yet another of those societies torn apart by hatred and resentment between those who are here and those who are coming, between the Portuguese and the foreigners.”
1 year
Today marks one year since the announcement of the Migration Action Plan, a document “for four years, which has an implementation level of about two-thirds.”
“I think a lot has been done, I think the country should be proud of what we have done collectively, but there is still much to do,” he said.
“We remain within the spectrum of humanist moderation,” unlike other countries where the “only response people had was a radical, dehumanizing response, based on false facts encouraged by extremist forces,” the minister stressed.
The country has an obligation to “present the country with responses that work and are not extremist,” avoiding the “acceleration of fears and resentments.”
“There is no happy society if people hate each other,” he added.
The beauty of Migration is that it's a pathway to solve problems. The problem of aging population and low birth rate.
More of Economics than the politics of it.
The mandate as a Researcher is to help the government and the people think through this process. Not only are the migrants expected to learn the lots Integration programs and understand the new things in the community, but its equally key for a Host Community Education. The lack of understanding or misconception about the new migrants can create unnecessary pressure or anti immigration rhetorics. Again, Migration is about economics and less about politics. The benefits of Migration will be reaped by Portugal if done correctly and put in structure for Integration and Peacefull co existence for a dicersed society. The researchers in this space need to be supported as well.
Join the BIG ideas at Migration Conference July 7-8,2025 Porto Portugal at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities FLUP University of Porto Portugal
By Akinwale Roy Ojomo from Porto on 03 Jun 2025, 22:17
So, if I want to live in someone's house for free at the owner's expense, we shouldn't resort to "extremist" measures, like, say throwing the interloper out? Portugal unfortunately has lost all of its past common sense and instead adopted the mental health derangements of the more prosperous European leader-nations.
By Tony from USA on 03 Jun 2025, 23:11
Sadly, long tears residents are bieing ignored, over new residents
By Denise from Algarve on 04 Jun 2025, 10:12
Learn from Dubai allow rich immigrants to enter and support the economy
Poor migrants are burden and unsafe for women living in Portugal. Make strict laws like Dubai or Saudi to stop crime thefts. Only poor love Portugal for passport then they run away to France or Germany
By Roya from Porto on 05 Jun 2025, 05:30
Help to immigrants
By A K m khairul basher basher from USA on 13 Jun 2025, 04:06