Portugal to Help Emigrants to Return for Summer Vacations
The Government of Portugal is working “hard” to help Portuguese emigrants to return to Portugal in the summer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently told the local media.
The Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said that they are working to achieve the freedom of movement for all the citizens,
“As far as we are concerned, this possibility, this return from these visits is guaranteed, is their right and will be a very important contribution to revive our entire territory, be it from an economic point of view, be it from a social and cultural point of view,” he stressed.
However, so that these trips happen, the country needs to lift some of the restrictions that have been imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We need to work together with the other member states of the European Union so that the restrictions that currently exist in circulation in the Schengen area can be lifted until the summer. That’s what we work on ”, the minister pointed out.
Regarding the issue, the Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, had already clarified that “there is still no date for lifting the restrictions at the borders and that the criterion will start with the countries with the greatest number of Portuguese”. The opening of the border with Spain will depend on the number of infections in the Portuguese and Spanish territory.
Contrary to what happened at Easter, when the Government asked emigrants not to come to Portugal, this Tuesday, in a parliamentary hearing, Augusto Santos Silva explained that they are working to achieve this freedom of movement.
Last month, Portugal announced that it supports the joint work of the Member States, the European Commission and other European Union institutions in their attempt to find an ambitious European recovery plan to recover from damages caused by the Coronavirus.
Amid the Coronavirus outbreak, last month, the Portuguese Council of Ministers decided to temporarily grant all migrants and asylum seekers currently in the country with full citizenship rights.
