Portugal has received less than half of its allocation of refugees from the processing camps in Italy and Greece.
The European Commission reports that Portugal has taken in 1,400 people: 1,101 from camps in Greece and 299 from camps in Italy but slow progress is being made.
Part of the €377 million allocated to the continuing refugee crisis by Brussels for 2018 will head Portugal’s way as the government's commitment to take in 2,951 people under the EU resettlement programme is less than half fulfilled.
The European Commission says that it is crucial that member states accelerate their relocation procedures and “commit to reinstate all eligible applicants.”
Portugal has pretty much an open door policy on refugees with the prime minister saying he will take in 10,000 or even 20,000 refugees, after they are processed in the camps, but the slow systems in the Greek and Italian facilities, rather than in the receiving countries, are to blame for Portugal only being able to welcome 1,400 refugees, 40% of whom have left already. (here)
Portugal has taken people from camps outside Europe with 63 coming from Egypt and 12 from Turkey - plus one lonely soul from Morocco but even the man running the programme, Ministerial Assistant in the PM's cabinet, Eduardo Cabrita, acknowledges that Portugal "is not a preferred destination" for refugees, citing ‘difficulties of integration’ as the number one reason for refugees leaving the country.
On 4 July, Brussels invited the member states to submit new resettlement commitments for 2018, which will attract financial support from Brussels at the rate of €10,000 per head but with Portugal's current resettlement numbers well below target, this excercise is academic.
