The action outside Europe’s borders, ‘in order to promote peace and prosperity, fundamental conditions for the reduction of migratory movements, the most effective control of the external border in order to combat all kinds of crime, including trafficking in human beings and illegal immigration networks, and the efficient functioning of the host mechanism of refugees, and the urgency of putting this into full operation, “were the aspects highlighted by Prime Minister António Costa, as the most important outcomes of the European Council which met in Brussels on 17 and December 18.
The Prime Minister stated that ‘the Council was marked by the EU’s responsiveness to migratory pressures and its ability to live up to ensure protection to all those who seek refuge in the Union, from theaters of war or where there are threats to their security, and seek to find in Europe a new chance to start your life. ”
“In this sense it is important that the EU can help, want to stabilize conflict zones’ or with developmental disabilities, said António Costa, adding that at the same time, it is necessary for the EU to” reinforce its monitoring capacity at its external borders ‘, which is’ to Portugal, a matter of crucial importance because of the sheer size of our maritime external border “.
Therefore, Portugal saw “welcome the European Commission to resume an old proposal, which Portugal was also increasing, creating a system of coastal guards, a new mechanism – not a new institution – which from the coordination capacity Frontex [European Agency for the coordination of control of external borders] can and should have, articulates the Marine or other instruments of member states to defend their territorial waters “by placing them” the common border protection service, “said the Prime Minister. “There are good conduction to work this proposal and to develop,” he added.
António Costa also said that we must “ensure that the solidarity in border protection is accompanied by solidarity in the distribution of effort and diversification of integration opportunities of those seeking protection in the EU in European societies”. He added that “it is essential that migrants from reception points have effective capacity to make proper security screening and to define profiles, skills and professional likes to facilitate future integration [of refugees] in the host countries.”
The Prime Minister said that reaffirmed “the availability of Portugal to strengthen with technical means of SEF operation of the entry points, which are a major bottleneck in the functioning of refugee redistribution policy, as shown by what has happened with us: already long ago that Portugal expressed its willingness to host more than 4,000 refugees and yesterday received the first 24 », a slowness that” very penalizes refugees and their integration into host societies ‘where’ important to accelerate this process. “