Foreign Portuguese in their own land. Things can go wrong, says Passos

“If everything stays as it is”, people will feel like foreigners in their own land, says Pedro Passos Coelho. They would be considered cosmopolitan, “which was great”, but it is not great because “people feel insecure, threatened”, warns the former prime minister.

“In a very short time a lot of people entered Portugal”, he said Pedro Passos Coelho this Thursday in a speech, in Lisbon, at the presentation of the book “Introduction to Liberalism”, by Miguel Morgado.

The former prime minister addressed the data released by AIMA on the same day, which indicate that the number of foreign citizens residing in Portugal quadrupled in seven yearswith around 1.5 million registered at the end of 2024.

“And, if everything remains as it is with the family reunification and so on, well, any day now, what happens in other societies will also happen here in which people, nationals, people who are part of that society, feel foreigners in their own land“, he warned.

In an intervention dedicated to the theme of liberalism, Passos Coelho highlighted that, according to this political philosophy, “there shouldn’t be any problem in which people felt like foreigners in their own land”, ironizing that they would be considered “cosmopolitan, which was great”.

“The problem is that It’s not great because people feel insecurethreatened, in a certain way disoriented, suspicious… All of these are very human characteristics and which, under normal circumstances, are not worth much, in environments like these, things can go wrong“, he stated.

Passos Coelho considered that “the minimum amount of common sense makes anyone understand this”, before leaving criticism of PS governments led by António Costa, who accused them of having had a policy on immigration that had as its principle “Let it in, it’s supposed to be like this and I won’t ask anything to anyone.”

“This was what the previous prime minister said to the senior staff of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) when they warned him ‘Mr Prime Minister, Watch out ’cause we’re losing control of this situation. Look, a lot of people are coming in, we don’t even know who they are. We don’t even ask for a criminal certificate,’” he said.

According to Passos Coelho, in response to these warnings that he attributed to the SEF, António Costa responded: “That’s really how it is, do you understand? Don’t think it’s a coincidence, That’s what it’s for, it’s to get these people insidethis is to continue”.

The former prime minister accused the PS governments of having “done this consciously“, before leaving a suggested question for António Costa.

“Has anyone asked the President of the European Council if he didn’t want review this position, which brought so much radicalism to Portugalso much insecurity and uncertainty in the way people discuss in public space”, he said.

Afterwards, Passos Coelho recalled that, in the campaign for the 2024 legislative elections, in a speech at a rally in support of Luís Montenegro in the Algarve, he had already warned about the “problem of immigration“.

“When I I drew attention to these problems two years agomy God, several media outlets said: ‘this guy is mixing security and immigration in the same sentence. Populism, total irresponsibility, it doesn’t even look like he was prime minister, completely irresponsible’. I don’t know what they will say now”, he said.

In a 50-minute speech, Passos Coelho also warned that there are “everywhere a radicalism that is taking over public space” and considered that its growth “results from the absolutely irresponsible way in which many of the issues that worry and disturb people, were not treated“.

For the former prime minister, whenever “there are governments that behave with excessive demagoguery, in a populist waywho want to please everyone and push everything that needs to be done with their belly”, problems “accumulate and people say ‘What are these guys doing there?‘”.

“This level of distrust, discredit, uncertainty that results from the practices of liberal institutions, as they are occupied and performed with general irresponsibility, generate radicalism. And radicalism breeds radicalism“, he warned.

It’s delicious

Pedro Passos Coelho also spoke out “very satisfied” with what he considered to be the “very good result” of the PSD in the local elections, after giving a speech in which he left warnings regarding the Government’s economic policy.

“Eu I was very happy with the result of the local elections, especially because my party, the PSD, had a very good result. And, therefore, I am satisfied”, said Passos Coelho to journalists after his speech at the presentation of Miguel Morgado’s book.

About the fact that Suzana Garciawhose candidacy Passos Coelho had supported, failed to be elected president of the Chamber of Amadora, the former prime minister said that “it was for a black nail“.

“I hope the candidate doesn’t give up because, really, It’s a force of natureis a person who, I won’t say alone, but, ultimately, with very limited support, achieved a great result and that should make us think about who has the responsibilities to think about this”, he considered.

Faced with the insistence of journalists to talk about other topics, Passos Coelho said that, on politics, I had already said everything I had to say in the speech he gave at the presentation of Miguel Morgado’s book, before leaving a guarantee.

“You won’t hear me talk about anything anytime soon,” assured, after having made five public interventions since September 25th.

In his speech at the presentation session of Miguel Morgado’s book, Pedro Passos Coelho accused the PS governments led by António Costa of not having done “a worthy renovation“.

According to the former prime minister, they were “eight years with a small talk telling people that they they would have a lot of what they didn’t have after all. Of course, with the PCP and BE support this. It’s delicious. But with a hidden austerity. Therefore, lying to people”, he accused.

In these years of PS governance, “the truth was not being told“, said Passos Coelho, adding that this is happening now when observing the “idramatic insufficiency of public investment” or the situation in the National Health Service (SNS).

Put an economic crisis on top of it

Then, accusing the PS of having had a “disqualified public policy” and even though he said he did not intend to talk about the latest governance issues, Passos Coelho left a warning in terms of economic matters.

“The Minister of Finance is a very competent man and, therefore, I believe that he has the accounts very well done and guarantees that we will not return to public deficits and public debt and all that. But my life experience also shows that There are many things that do not depend on the minister of Finance”, he said.

And, as far as it does not depend on the Minister of Finance, continued Passos Coelho, “the thing is not heading towards the result” desired.

“We should be preparing for ease the step of debt relief of the economy because what is happening in France, where the Government agreed to suspend the increase in the retirement age, it won’t end well. Magical thinking is something that has a limited duration”, he warned.

Passos Coelho acknowledged that it can be argued that Portugal is better because it has “a little less than 90% of the debt ratio“.

“Yes, but put an economic crisis on top of ithow much does the debt ratio increase to? First of all, the denominator shrinks, expenses all increase, where does the debt ratio go? It is very quick to return to a higher ratio”, concluded Passos Coelho.