Portugal offers to take in limited mix of extra refugees

Portugal has offered to take in up to 5,800 extra refugees from countries struggling to cope with the influx of asylum seekers into Europe to boost its workforce with skilled laborers and students and help maintain its population.

Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week sent letters to Austria, Greece, Italy and Sweden - some of the countries that have been bearing the brunt of the refugee influx - and said that Lisbon can welcome up to 5,800 more asylum seekers on top of the 4,500 it has already agreed to take.

The southern European country plans to take 2,500 to 3,000 refugees qualified in the agriculture and forestry fields, 2,000 university students, and 800 vocational students.

“These are the sectors that lack manpower and are being forced to recruit workers in Vietnam and Thailand,” the Portuguese government said.

According to the head of the Portuguese Refugee Council Teresa Tito Morais, those areas constitute “the jobs that the Portuguese do not take.”

Portugal, a country of 10.5 million people, has been hammered by the global financial crisis. Almost half a million Portuguese have left the country either permanently or temporarily in search of jobs in the last four years. Unemployment remains high at 12 percent.

“The arrival of refugees will benefit the regions in the country that have become deserted,” Morais said, adding, however, that Portugal is little known and “needs to make its voice heard to migrants arriving in Europe.”

Lisbon has taken just 32 asylum seekers so far. The country’s ambassador to Greece, Rui Alberto Tereno, recently paid a visit to a Greek refugee camp in a bid to encourage the asylum seekers to travel to the sunny coastal country.

Portugal’s birth rate is the lowest in the European Union (EU). According to the National Institute of Statistics in Portugal, if the current trend continues, the country could lose 20 percent of its population by 2060, dropping from the current 10.5 to 8.6 million people.

Europe is facing an unprecedented inflow of refugees, who are fleeing conflict-hit zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria. Many blame major European powers for the exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and wars, forcing people out of their homes.

According to figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than one million refugees reached Europe’s shores by crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2015. Over 3,770 people died in their hazardous journey to the continent.

The Portuguese offer comes at a time when most other countries in Europe, particularly those on the so-called external borders of the continent, have been struggling with the huge numbers of refugee arrivals. The issue has triggered a debate within the EU on how to fairly distribute the refugees in member countries, which differ from one another - sometimes largely - in terms of economic strength. 

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