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Euronews
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Fact check: Which EU country returns the most irregular immigrants?
Irregular migration is a hot topic in European politics at the moment and often gives rise to dubious claims, the latest of which has come from Portugal. Minister of the Presidency of Portugal António Leitão Amaro, of the ruling centre-right Social Democratic Party, recently said that the Socialist Party failed to tackle illegal immigration during its roughly eight years in government between 2015 and 2024. He said that Portugal is "one of the countries that returns the fewest illegal immigrants", but how do its return figures compare to those of other EU countries? To find out, we took a look at official Eurostat statistics, which log the third country nationals returned following an order to leave each EU country every quarter. And yes, Portugal is consistently ranked as one of the countries with the lowest return rates. For example, the most recent dataset including every EU member is Q3 2024, which shows that Slovakia returned the fewest irregular migrants, having sent back 55 people, followed by Slovenia with 80 and then Portugal with 85. On the other side of the spectrum was France, having returned nearly 4,000 people, followed by Germany and Spain with just over 3,000 people each. It's a similar story every year: in Q1 2025, France, Germany and this time Cyprus returned the most irregular immigrants, according to Eurostat, with Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia bringing up the rear. The Portuguese figures for this quarter aren't yet available on Eurostat, but the country has generally been at the bottom end of the table every quarter since 2022. The same is true for the number of orders to leave the EU which each member state has handed out, without necessarily having carried them out yet. Eurostat figures show that Slovakia gave the fewest orders to leave to irregular migrants in Q3 2024 (80), followed by Portugal (120) and Estonia (135). France was way ahead of the pack with 30,800, but Germany (13,660) and Spain (13,645) once again rounded out the top three. Figures indicate the EU as a whole is ramping up efforts to clamp down on irregular immigration. New figures released on Monday reveal that in the first quarter of 2025, 123,905 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave an EU country, and 28,475 people were returned to third countries following an order to leave. Compared with Q1 2024, the number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave went up by 18.4% and the number of people returned to third countries was up by 6.4%.
Euronews
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Portugal tightens citizenship rules and doubles residency requirement
Portugal has announced a tightening of its immigration and naturalisation laws, including doubling the minimum period of legal residency required for most foreigners to apply for citizenship to 10 years. Individuals from Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Angola will face a wait of seven years to obtain citizenship, while those from other nations must wait 10 years. Cabinet Minister António Leitão Amaro justified the measure on Monday by citing the "requirement of an effective connection, of belonging to the national community". "We are significantly strengthening the requirements for access to citizenship, naturalisation, in line with the guidelines we were already included in the government's programme," he said. Under current rules, foreigners in Portugal must show adequate knowledge of the Portuguese language, have no previous convictions of more than three years in jail, and must not be considered a threat to national security. The new regulations mean such individuals must also demonstrate familiarity with Portugal's culture, have not served any effective prison sentence, and declare their backing for the country's democratic principles. Other immigration regulations, like those governing the issuance of residence permits for relatives of legal immigrants, would also be tightened, and there will be a provision allowing naturalised Portuguese who commit serious crimes to be stripped of their citizenship, according to Amaro. Regarding family reunification, immigrants will have to be legal resident in Portugal for two years to bring relatives into the country, and the family members must be minors. Portugal has been caught up in the rising European tide of populism, and the anti-immigration Chega party won the second-most seats in elections last month — making it the head of the parliamentary opposition to the new centre-right minority government. Chega had pushed for tougher immigration measures and made citizenship reform a key pillar of its election campaign, and is expected to back the planned decree. Portugal's population of about 10.5 million includes at least 1.5 million legal foreign residents, according to its migration and asylum agency (AIMA). Brazilians are the largest group, with more than 450,000 residents. Economic data aggregator Pordata statistics show that 141,300 people were naturalised in 2023 — a 20% decrease from 2022. The government said in January more than 400,000 applications were pending.
Euronews
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Only 3.3 per cent of foreigners in Portugal can vote. Will the deportation policy have an impact?
Despite already representing around 15 per cent of the resident population, foreigners accounted for just 0.3 per cent of registered voters in Portugal at the end of 2024, according to data from the Voter Portal of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI). A study by the Office of Economic, Business and Public Policy Studies (G3E2P) of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP) reveals that immigrants in Portugal have a low level of political participation, which is compromising their social integration and favouring populist anti-immigration discourse. Of the 1.6 million foreign residents in Portugal, only 34,165 were registered (3.3 per cent). Of these, 16,985 had acquired Portuguese nationality, which guarantees them automatic registration. For the other foreigners, registration is voluntary. Of the total number of people registered, 15,613 were voters from European Community countries resident in Portugal and 18,552 were voters from other foreign countries. In terms of nationality, the majority were Brazilians (25.03%) and Cape Verdeans (16.89%). Immigrant membership of Portuguese political parties is marginal or non-existent, as is the case in the rest of Europe, the EFF study also points out. If parties actively recruited immigrants to represent foreign residents, the country's diverse population would be better reflected in Parliament, the researchers say. Recalling that all foreign residents can naturalise after five years in the country, acquiring broad political rights, the FEP's G3E2P analysis also highlights that the low level of voter registration and participation prevents immigrants' political potential from translating into effective representation. Immigration has once again become a hot topic during Portugal's election campaign. More than 10.9 million voters living abroad are expected to go to the polls this Sunday. Days before the start of the election campaign, the surprise deportation announcement by Luís Montenegro's government, via Presidency Minister António Leitão Amaro, was a "bucket of cold water" for many immigrants. "Over the next few weeks, we're facing around 18,000 notifications to leave national territory. I should also point out that this is the first set of decisions. We still have another 110,000 cases, most of which will probably be granted, but of those 110,000 still to be decided, we will probably also have more rejections and more notices to leave national territory," the executive spokesperson announced. One of the flagships of the AD programme, led by Montenegro, is the control of migratory flows and the implementation of a regulated immigration policy. The AD has been criticised from left to right, with opposition parties accusing Luís Montenegro of "electioneering" and "propaganda" in a dispute over Chega voters. André Ventura's party has insisted on a more populist discourse, claiming that immigrants are a factor of insecurity for the country. Elaine Miranda is a hairdresser and came to Portugal 16 years ago from São Luís do Maranhão, in the north-east of Brazil. When she arrived in Lisbon in 2009, she didn't intend to stay, but ended up settling here because she identified with the Portuguese capital due to its similarities to her hometown. After a week, she soon received job offers and ended up becoming a naturalised citizen, even though the process took a long time. She will be exercising his right to vote on the 18th for the first time. Elaine expects the next government to provide a balanced solution to the problem of unregulated immigration. "I'm an immigrant and I'm in favour of immigration, but we have to have conditions, there has to be control at all times, and people have to integrate into the community," Elaine told Euronews, rejecting the idea that the announcement of the deportations will influence her vote on Sunday. Ounísia Santos, a PhD student in Environmental Engineering, has a different view. She came to Portugal from Cape Verde 12 years ago to continue her studies in higher education and became a naturalised citizen in 2021. When she heard the news about the immigrants being expelled, her first reaction was concern. "It feels like they're coming after you, like a persecution. Portugal has always seemed to me to be a welcoming and receptive country, so I was shocked to learn that a country that has welcomed me so well is not receptive to everyone," she told Euronews. As an immigrant, she says she understands the importance of foreign labour for the country, but she is also critical of uncontrolled immigration. "There needs to be proper management, otherwise scenarios like the one we're seeing now in Portugal happen, such as pressure on public services, schools and housing," she admits. Ounísia voted in the two previous elections, in 2022 and 2024, and intends to vote again this Sunday. She hopes that the next government will at least provide the conditions for immigrants who are already here to integrate.
CBC
05-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Portugal to expel 18,000 foreigners. Its PM says it's not about the election — or Trump
Portugal's caretaker government plans to expel some 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization, a minister said on Saturday in the buildup to a national election. Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said Saturday that the centre-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to people in the country illegally to leave. The minister said officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 foreigners to leave voluntarily within 20 days. According to the Portugal Resident news website, immigrants will start receiving the first batch of notifications today. Citing reports, the site adds that, if they do not comply, "they will be subject to an expulsion process." On Monday, news website The Portugal News reported that The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) had begun the process. On Sunday, Portugal Pulse news site reported that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro denied that process was being accelerated by the upcoming May 18 election, and said it was part of the process that began in June last year. He also refuted the opposition's criticism of a "Trumpization" of his campaign, a reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's border crackdowns. "This is not about forcibly removing someone. It is about notifying the person, and the person can appeal. If they cannot meet the requirements, they must leave," Montenegro said, according to Portugal Pulse. Rise of the right Portugal, which has a population of around 10.6 million people, has had a series of minority governments in recent years as the traditional rivals for power, the centre-right Social Democratic Party and the centre-left Socialists, lost votes to growing smaller parties. One of these parties is the Chega party, which the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications notes has often been labelled a "radical right populist party due to its policies and rhetoric. It advocates an anti-immigration stance, with a particular emphasis on reducing illegal immigration and strengthening border security." The country has been caught up in the rising European tide of populism. The Chega party surged into third place in last year's election. "These results confirm the growing success of the radical populist playbook," including, "staunch opposition to immigration," wrote Filipe Calvão, an associate professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Chicago, on the Geneva Graduate Institute's website last year. Portugal will hold an early general election on May 18. Montenegro called the snap ballot in March after his minority government, led by his conservative Social Democratic Party, lost a confidence vote in parliament and stood down. Anti-immigration sentiment Portugal's centre-right government has toughened some immigration rules in the past year, reflecting attempts elsewhere in Europe to fend off the rise of the far right. Among the restrictions last year was outlawing a widely used mechanism called "manifestation of interest," which for years allowed non-EU migrants without an employment contract to move to Portugal and request residency after paying social security for a year. A surge in "digital nomads" had contributed to the growing backlash against immigrants, due to a rise in housing and living costs, The Telegraph reports. According to Fortune, house prices in Lisbon, the capital, rose 30 per cent over the last five years. Last month, Portuguese riot police detained several ultra-right protesters after clashes in downtown Lisbon marred celebrations of the 51st anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, which ended a fascist dictatorship. Extreme-right groups such as Ergue-Te (Rise Up), Habeas Corpus and Grupo 1143 had called a rally, which city authorities banned, to protest ahead of the parliamentary election against growing numbers of immigrants. Around 1.5 million migrants live in Portugal, about triple the number a decade ago. According to the Integral Human Development website, most migration has traditionally flowed from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, Cape Verde and Angola. According to the OECD, Brazil, India and Italy were the top three nationalities of newcomers to Portugal in 2022, and in 2023, the number of first asylum applicants increased by 31 per cent. The majority of applicants came from the Gambia, Afghanistan and Colombia, the OECD reports. Around 14 per cent of taxpayers are migrants, Reuters reports, contributing more than 1.6 billion euros ($2.5 billion Cdn) to the economy in 2022, while receiving about 257 million euros ($401 million Cdn) in social benefits. WATCH | How Germany's far right is drawing in young voters: How Germany's far-right is drawing in young voters 2 months ago Duration 5:39 Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on course to become the second-largest player in the country's parliament after Sunday's election. CBC's Margaret Evans breaks down how social media and influencers have helped the far-right political party make big gains with young voters.
Saudi Gazette
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Portugal to expel some 18,000 illegal migrants ahead of snap national election
LISBON — Portugal's caretaker government announced plans on Saturday to expel about 18,000 foreigners living in the country without legal permits or authorization. António Leitão Amaro, Minister of the Presidency, said the center-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to illegal migrants asking them to leave. According to Amaro, officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 undocumented migrants to leave voluntarily within 20 days. The announcement comes in the build-up to the country's early general election, scheduled to be held on 18 May. Last week, Amaro was quoted in the local press as saying that 'Portugal needs to review its deportation system, which doesn't work." "It is important to realize that Portugal is one of the three countries in Europe that executes the fewest deportations of people who ordered to leave for violating the rules, including for security reasons,' he month's snap ballot was called in March by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro after his minority government, led by his conservative Social Democratic Party, lost a confidence vote in Parliament and stood who took power less than a year ago, was accused of a potential conflict of interest regarding a family law firm was alleged to have received payments from a company with a major gambling concession granted by the 'dispel uncertainty,' Montenegro called for snap elections. Instead, opposition parties teamed up to topple government, a two-party alliance, was in power for less than a year and had just 80 seats in the current 230-seat overwhelming majority of opposition lawmakers, led by the center-left Socialists and Chega, which together hold 128 seats, vowed to vote against it and followed upcoming poll pitches the country of 10.6 million people into months of political uncertainty, just as it is in the process of investing more than €22 billion in EU development funds to retool its analysts have also noted with concern the rising European tide of populism in the country, with the far-right Chega party surging into third place in last year's transitioning to democracy in the wake of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, which ended a four-decade dictatorship, Portugal has not experienced political turmoil as it is seeing demise of the minority government in March marks the worst spell of political instability in 50 years of the country's democracy. — Euronews
