“I visited the communities and noticed that many of our houses face some difficulties due to the aging of the first generations, who were the founders,” stated Emídio Sousa, who has been in Brazil since July 10 on an official visit that will end on July 21.
“There is a need here to help these houses attract new members, the second and third generations of descendants. Some also need to modernize their way of functioning and seek new activities,” he added.
The new Secretary of State met for the first time with members of the Portuguese community in Brazil and stated that he has noticed the community media in Brazil are “extremely important,” as they connect Portugal with Portuguese people abroad.
According to Emídio Sousa, some community media outlets need to bring “new communication formulas, which are social networks, the internet, process dematerialization, which are a constant worldwide and there is also a need for modernization here.”
“Our policy will be to help because we understand the importance of these media; we will try to find ways to help them continue to operate because they are clearly a very important part of the connection to the communities,” he added.
Speaking about the eleven-day visit to Brazil, where he has visited Rio de Janeiro, Santos, São Paulo, and will proceed to Brasília, Bahia, and Pernambuco, Sousa highlighted that he intends “to get to know the community well, understand the challenges ahead, listen, and also present the Government’s policies regarding the communities.”
Asked about problems reported by the Portuguese community in Brazil regarding the handling of administrative requests made at consulates, Sousa acknowledged that there has been a very significant increase in consular activity due to the new wave of emigration from Brazil to Portugal.
“There is a very high demand for services, documents, passports, and this sometimes generates dissatisfaction. I have a good impression; our consular services, the ones I visited, are working well, and there is a constant concern to provide the best response,” he assessed.
Regarding the concerns he heard from consular services in Brazil, Sousa said that the demand for Portuguese nationality has raised doubts and the Government of Portugal does not “in any way want to withdraw the right of [Luso] descendants to have Portuguese nationality,” wanting, on the contrary, for them to have it.
“Now there is a very significant increase in that demand in Portugal, which often leads to administrative delays, but I also made it clear to them that, at no point, will we stop granting nationality to our descendants,” he concluded.
