Portugal prepares agreements with Portuguese-speaking countries to control migration

“In these 30 days” of Government, the authorities are seeking to “have labor agreements” with Portuguese-speaking countries, said Paulo Rangel regarding the regulation of migrations, during a debate promoted by RTP to mark the Europe Day.

On Portugal’s side, labor needs are identified – which are, for example, the agricultural units that need workers -, and “these countries are also doing this work, some of them are clearly fully available for this “, he added. She adds that this initiative “already regulates [a imigração] because people already come with a job.”

O Government will also check how migrants will be accommodated: “It’s one of the problems in agriculture and we know it’s pressing.” Paulo Rangel identified this measure as one of the migration regulation instruments. “Another way is to invest in the countries of the people who come, because if they are more developed, the flows are also more controlled”, he argued, noting that Portugal has “a limited capacity”, but the European Union (EU) “has resources”.

For the head of diplomacy, in the agreements it makes with third countries, the EU should not be concerned “just with trying to physically control the flows”. In his opinion, “there must be great concern in creating conditions for these populations to settle“, through development cooperation, essential to “stabilize resources, to combat climate change in these countries, to help them manage water, because there will be many climate refugees”.

The EU “has the economic capacity and relationship capacity already established with a group of countries in which it can, on the one hand, reduce flows and, on the other hand, prevent these flows in the sense that the people who come, already come with minimum thresholds from an integration perspective, thus avoiding being exposed to traffickers and even national exploiters”.