The arrival of a chartered flight from Greece with 68 refugees on board is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday 7th March, representing the largest group so far to come to Portugal which is struggling to fill its EU quota.
The European Support Office on Asylum hired the aeroplane which is scheduled to land at 05:25 at the Figo Maduro military airport in Lisbon.
The 68 refugees already have been assigned places in several diffferent parts of the country, according to Deputy Minister, Eduardo Cabrita.
“The prime minister recently has expressed willingness to accept about 10,000 refugees," said Cabrita, adding in all sincerity that "Portugal has been at the forefront of European commitment for the reception of refugees,” despite having taken in less than 30 to date from an agreed total intake of just over 4,000.
He also emphasised that the hosting plan in Portugal aims to give ‘life plans’ to these people, in particular to get them into struggling Portuguese universities, polytechnics and professional training schools to boost numbers.
The minister said that in addition to these 68 people, (Secretary of State Carlos Miguel claims 120 refugees are arriving) Portugal also shortly should be receiving another 50 refugees arriving on commercial flights from Greece and Italy.
The group arriving on Monday morning is made up of Syrians and Iraqis, comprising several families with children and some single people.
Asked about security issues, Eduardo Cabrita said that the State has already been informed who is coming and the refugees have been cleared by the current host country and the Portuguese authorities.
Meeting with Turkey
Also on Monday 7th March, Turkish and European Union leaders are to prepare an agreement on migration as asylum applications in the EU doubled in 2015.
Having dithered over the problem, the EU now wants to set up a partnership with Turkey to reduce the flow of people.
According to Eurostat, almost 1.26 million people applied for asylum in the European bloc last year alone, more than double the 2014 number but only now does the EU want to strike a deal with Turkey to staunch the flow which shown no sign of stopping.
Half of the influx are Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans with the other comprising smaller groups from various countries. More than a third have been registered in Germany - nearly 442,000.
These are only the officially registered asylum seekers, not the total number of people that have managed to get into the EU despite many impediments put in their way due to the lack of any coherent policy in operation.
Almost 135,000 people already have crossed the Mediterranean into Europe this year and the long awaited meeting between European leaders and the Turkish authorities will aim to define how the Turkey can reduce the flow of people.
Last November’s agreement with Turkey agreed €3 billion in aid with another €100 million to be sent to ‘help put the plan into action.’
Last week the European Commission president, Donald Tusk, met members of the Turkish government to prepare for the coming meeting.
Tusk said that for the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, he saw the possibility of a consensus.
