The 50 refugees from the Middle East or North Africa that the eventual reception center to be created somewhere in the municipality of Olhão may receive are just a small part of the 1500 that the Portuguese government made itself available, in July, to receive.
In Olhão, the mayor opposed the installation of the reception center on the land initially provided by the Portuguese Red Cross Center in Fuseta, claiming that this installation of the town center “does not fit” with “a town that is developing towards tourism”.
As such, the autarchy presented two alternative spaces, in the parishes of Quelfes and Pechão, which are outside the locality, «but close to the urban mesh», and the possibility of installing the center in Moncarapacho is still under study.
The mayor took the opportunity to criticize the Government, which he considers "not having done the homework", saying that "good will is not enough" and that organization is needed to move forward with the project.
On the other hand, in Lisbon, the mayor, also socialist Fernando Medina, is not waiting for the Government to resolve the issue and has already announced the creation of a fund of two million euros, which will be managed in conjunction with other institutions , to support refugees who come to the city.
«We will create a fund of about two million euros, which we will use in conjunction with institutions such as Santa Casa da Misericórdia, which is an advanced line in responding to this problem», such as the Portuguese Council for Refugees and the Red Cross, « so that we can provide the basic and fundamental responses to the humanitarian crisis», informed Fernando Medina.
Fernando Medina, who was speaking at TVI24, said that in Lisbon “a reception network is being prepared by various institutions” for refugees who come to the city.
"The commitment that exists on the part of Lisbon is not only to do its part", to support these refugees, but also to "give an additional contribution", through the creation of the fund, he stressed, qualifying this reality as "the struggle for life and for survival”.
For her part, Teresa Tito de Morais, president of the Portuguese Council for Refugees (CPR), said she believes that Portugal has the capacity to receive more refugees than the 1500 that the Government made itself available to receive.
Although she does not have concrete data, Teresa Tito de Morais estimated that the arrival of the refugees “should not happen before the end of October”, since “a political decision” and certainties regarding the financing of the project are still lacking.
"There remains a decision on when these people will arrive, in what conditions they come", he said, stressing that the refugees will be distributed throughout the country and that the project planned for Olhão will still have to pass "by the Portuguese authorities and by funding from the European Commission".
Admitting that the arrival of 50 people in an area like Fuseta "It can upset" the lives of residents, the official underlined that those people "do not come to steal jobs from anyone", but "in need of survival" and, many of them, "want to contribute to the development of the country that welcomed them ».
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