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Portugal's justice minister welcomes refugee quota proposed by EC

Xinhua, May 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal could take up to 704 refugees, the European Commission (EC) proposed on Wednesday.

The Brussels-based commission is calling for member states to share the thousands of refugees arriving to Europe from northern Africa.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), estimates that around 3,500 refugees died in 2014 in the Mediterranean sea.

The controversial plan by the EC plans to take 20,000 refugees in the next two years.

While countries like the United Kingdom shunned the plan, saying the commission should focus on traffickers exploring the migrants, Portugal's justice minister welcomed the new quota, saying the discussion about refugees could not be passed on a "purely economic" logic.

"Europe went into other countries for centuries without asking permission, so we cannot base our discussion on purely economic logic," Paula Teixeira da Cruz said, according to Portuguese News Agency Lusa, at a conference entitled "Victims of crime in Europe: the future is now!" which took place in Lisbon on Wednesday.

The Portuguese authorities gave asylum to only 40 refugees last year out of 155 asylum seekers who lodged an application in Portugal. Endit