Off the wire
• Oil prices jump after Fed statement  • Trump gives "America first" foreign policy speech  • Anti-terror fight needs comprehensive approaches: Chinese defense minister  • Portugal's largest trade union calls for budget renegotiation  • Czech Senate OKs plan to send air instructors to Iraq  • U.S. dollar slips on Fed statement  • At least 12 Egyptians killed in Libya by human smugglers: ministry  • EAC universities urged to link education to job realities  • Spain's Banco Santander profits reach 1.633 bln euros  • Committee to boost EU-China tourism, culture links launched in Brussels  
You are here: 　 Home

Portuguese president says taking in refugees "fundamental point of unity"

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said Wednesday that the country was willing to go as far as possible in taking in refugees and the number of refugees arriving would rise in upcoming months.

"Unfortunately, not because of the Portuguese state or civil society's will, the number of refugees received has been inferior," Rebelo de Sousa said during a joint press conference at the presidential palace in Lisbon following a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrezej Duda. The meeting was preceded by official photographs and a walk in the palace gardens.

"The number (of refugees) will rise in next weeks and months, because it is a fundamental point of unity in the Portuguese nation," he added.

Rebelo de Sousa pointed out that the country has agreed to take in up to 10,000 refugees under the European Union relocation plan.

He also acknowledged the Polish president's recognition of the importance of Europe's role regarding refugees.

When asked by a journalist if he was concerned with the country's budgetary implementation, Rebelo de Sousa said it referred to the previous budget and not the current Socialist's.

"The figures released yesterday (Tuesday) refer to the first quarter. That means that even though they comprise measures adopted by the government, they are application data from last year's budget," Rebelo de Sousa said.

The country's Directorate General for Budget revealed on Tuesday that Portugal's budget deficit rose to 823.9 million euros (932.7 million U.S. dollars) until March, 107.9 million euros more than the deficit registered in the first quarter of 2015.

"The budget for 2016 was only applied after that, which means that only the figures next month and in the next months will show more clearly the evolution of budgetary implementation," Rebelo de Sousa added.

He welcomed the Polish president of a "friendly country" and highlighted that cultural and economic relations between both countries were very strong.

"We accompany Poland's rich history for a long time and we accompany the recent path to a democracy and its constitutionalization, as well as its integration in the European Union," he said, adding that both countries had "many ties in common in the framework of the European Union and in the framework of the Atlantic Alliance." (1 euro=1.13 U.S. dollars) Enditem