President rejects Chega's call for referendum on immigration

He said that figures show that the majority of immigrants "are nationals of Portuguese-speaking sister countries".

@European Parliament

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa rejected Chega's call for a referendum on immigration, reducing it to a non-issue.

In a written answer to a student at the PSD’s Summer University, the governing party’s annual Summer school, the head of state presents a series of figures on immigration that allow us to “bear in mind the difference between reality and discourses or narratives about it.”

In his response, Marcelo says that “it's fundamental, when talking about immigration, in a country like ours, which has always been one of emigration, to know what we're talking about.”

The President then presents concrete data on immigration, which devalues the idea of a cultural clash: “How many immigrants are there? One million out of almost eleven million who live in our physical territory. Of that million, how many make up the Brazilian and Luso-Brazilian community? Perhaps more than three hundred thousand, growing rapidly and likely to number more than four hundred thousand by 2026 or 2027. How many Ukrainians, long-established and victims of the war? Seventy thousand or thereabouts. That's close to 40% of the total.”

Continuing this portrait, Marcelo proposes adding to these “communities that are also old and solid - British, Cape Verdeans, Angolans and Indians (…) We'll have not far from two hundred thousand. And we're already close to 60% of the total immigrant population.”

He then adds: “Let's look at other classic and recent Europeans - with Italians and French at the top. And we're not far off two thirds of the total. Add in other PALOPs on the one hand, and people from the Americas on the other, and we're up to seventy-some per cent.”

The President draws a complete picture and says that we can’t forget, of course, the “very recent Asians - like from Nepal and Bangladesh.”

Marcelo then asks the question: “Of all these communities, which is the majority religiously? Christians, of various faiths and churches. What weight do Muslims, including Ismailis, have? Probably less than 10%. Africans a few, Asians much less. Residual Europeans and Latin Americans.”

After this analysis, the President reaches a conclusion that seeks to dismantle Chega’s André Ventura's thesis: “It remains to be said that the majority are nationals of Portuguese-speaking sister countries. Bearing these figures in mind means bearing in mind the difference between reality and discourses or narratives about it.”

Source: Observador