The European Commission wanted Portugal to take in 2,400 refugees as part of a Europe-wide project to settle the steady stream of people fleeing to Europe from Syria.
At first the Portuguese Prime Minister refused and asked Brussels to ‘get real,’ mumbling about 'small country, economically challenged etc'
Last year Portugal admitted just 40 refugees but, with a declining local population and the per head grant available for resettlement costs, now has decided to help out.
Portugal's Minister of Foreign Affairs told the European Commission that in the next two years Portugal will take 1,500 of the refugees lucky enough to have survived crossing the Mediterranean.
The agreement now has the consent of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who was cheered by reports that this intake may well contain a number of Syrians with higher education and the capacity to earn money.
European countries have agreed to accept 60,000 migrants fleeing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East but many when faced with their quotas have baulked.
At the last ‘heads of government’ meeting the deal was done for each country to accept a quota according to a formula involving Gross Domestic Product, population, the unemployment rate and the number of refugees already received.
Using this formula Portugal should have taken 2,400 people which it refused to do.
