Fernando Medina, former Minister of Finance, has accused the Democratic Alliance Government (PSD/CDS-PP) of conceding to Chega on immigration issues, stating that “the departure of immigrants will have a painful impact” on the country if the government does not invest in their “integration.”
“The main issue that led to immigration in recent years was fundamentally the growth of the Portuguese economy. We have no doubt: on the day Portugal enters the next economic recession, we will stop hearing about any immigration problems in our country because a significant portion of migrants will have left,” the socialist pointed out in an interview with Renascença.
According to Medina, immigration has been increasing “in response to economic needs,” and “the central focus” of related policies should not be on “restriction,” but rather “integration.”
“We must be able to integrate the migrant community we have as quickly as possible because if we don’t, what will happen in the next economic recession is that the departure of these immigrants will have an extraordinarily painful economic and financial impact on our country,” said the former mayor of Lisbon.
For the former official, the government’s program “is wrong, profoundly wrong” in this matter of integration “and yields to Chega.” Fernando Medina admits that “it is not easy,” but “we know how to do it.”
