In an interview, the former Chief of the Naval Staff, when asked about the potential electoral benefits of anti-immigrant rhetoric, responded, “Then I will lose votes.”
Citing economic studies, the admiral in reserve noted that for Portugal to reach the top of European countries, it needs to grow at least 3% annually, assuming Europe grows between 1 and 1.5%.
“And we are growing 1.5% or less per year,” he emphasized, adding, “The Portuguese economy needs to develop, and we need immigrants to develop this economy,” he stated, highlighting the fundamental contributions of this community also to the balance of the Social Security and for ongoing pension payments.
“We need immigrants to develop. Immigration is not a problem; it is an opportunity,” he stressed.
Despite aiming to combat anti-immigration “hate speech,” Gouveia e Melo rejects a simplistic “yes” or “no” policy towards immigrants, opposing the entry of foreigners who promote intolerance, such as violence against women.
He also rejects linking immigration and crime, asserting that the “key word” in this area should be “integration.”
“I am rational. If proven that a certain immigration is harmful to the State, of course I don’t want that immigration, but they have to prove it, not because I dislike immigrants, or because the Portuguese population is annoyed with a certain type of immigrants and thinks all immigrants are bad,” he explained.
For the admiral, immigration policy should focus on identifying foreigners who can transform Portugal into a “higher value-added, more productive economy” and avoiding those who “lower labor costs and enable lower-value companies to continue thriving.”
“The Portuguese population cannot forget one thing: that emigrants send more money to Portugal annually than all European Union funds. We depend not only on the immigrants here, who contribute to our economy and social security, but also heavily on our emigrants accepted into other societies.”
