The first plane with 120 refugees from Greece arrives "this morning" in Portugal, two days ahead of schedule, revealed today the Secretary of State for Local Authorities, during an official visit to Lagoa.
Secretary of State Carlos Miguel replaced, at the last minute, Deputy Minister Eduardo Cabrita, who this afternoon should have presided over the inauguration of the Balcão Único Municipal in the Câmara de Lagoa. Explaining the minister's absence, Carlos Miguel said that Eduardo Cabrita had been held up in Lisbon due to "120 refugees who will arrive in Portugal at dawn."
If confirmed, this means that this first contingent of refugees, welcomed in Portugal as part of the commitments assumed by the Government, arrives two days ahead of schedule, as minister Eduardo Cabrita had announced yesterday, in the Assembly of the Republic, during the joint hearing of the Budget and Local Power committees, within the scope of the discussion in the specialty of the State Budget, that the first flight, from Greece, would land on Monday.
The date would have been chosen to coincide, "symbolically", with the day of the European Union/Turkey Council.
The arrival of this first contingent of refugees corresponds, according to the government official, to "a request and with the direct participation of the president of the European Commission."
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