PSD met in Luxembourg to discuss concerns of emigrants

ANDa statement to the agency Lusa, the coordinator of the PSD Secretariat for the Portuguese Communities, Flávio Martins, explained that today’s meeting – which was attended by the party’s Secretary-General, Hugo Soares, and the Secretary of State of the Portuguese Communities, Emídio Sousa – served to gather representatives from the various sections in Europe and foster a “closer dialogue” between structures.

Another objective was to demonstrate to Portuguese communities in Europe “that the party is very attentive” and to hear “who is on the ground”.

“ The information that reaches Portugal, Lisbon, is important. But more than that, it is essential that the leaders of the party, and we had several of them here, know the reality, know what communities really need, [because they] have doubts, need to be better informed”, said Flávio Martins.

Among the concerns of Portuguese communities abroad and which the party addressed at this meeting are “questions of the incidence of taxes on those living in communities”, namely double taxation, and “for those returning to Portugal”.

“ This is a very important issue for Europe, because of what has been said, and it is important for the people in the party to know, even so that this can be translated into bilateral discussions of our Government with governments from other European countries, if that is the case,” he said.

Another concern is the strengthening of the teaching of the Portuguese language abroad, at a time when negotiations between government and trade unions still take place on the revision of the Portuguese Legal System of Foreign Education (RJEPE), with these professionals claiming the appreciation of the teaching career.

The functioning of consular posts was also one of the topics addressed, with Flávio Martins stressing that these structures “take public services to communities”.

One of the issues that most concern the emigrant community remains access to the vote. Flavio Martins said that the need to move forward with a kind of pilot project to test the electronic vote abroad was discussed – a recommendation to the Government that the PSD presented in parliament last year.

The Social Democrats also examined options to increase the participation of Portuguese voters abroad, either in person or by post.

This week, in an interview with the Public and the Renaissance, PSD spokesman Sebastião Bugalho argued that reform of the electoral law should be the priority of the parties and not the revision of the Constitution of the Republic.

Asked about whether he felt openness by PSD Secretary-General and also parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, for the presentation of initiatives in the Assembly of the Republic on the subject, Flávio Martins replied that yes, adding that there are issues that will still have to be worked out by the parliamentary group.