Lisbon, Jan. 16, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese parliament is debating on Thursday in plenary session the national implementation plan for the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, the first version of which has already been delivered to Brussels.

A source in the Cabinet minister's office told Lusa in December that the first version had already been delivered in order to meet the European Union's deadlines, but the document will be changed to a final proposal after consultations this month in the parliament and the national Council on Migration and Asylum.

In October, the former director of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) Manuel Jarmela Palos was appointed to coordinate the working group to "prepare, coordinate and ensure the execution of the national implementation plan for the Migration and Asylum Pact".

In September 2020, the European Commission presented the Migration and Asylum Pact, which was approved in December 2023, and Portugal, "within the framework of a global approach that allows migration to be managed effectively and equitably", has as one of its main objectives "to create a common framework that makes it possible to reconcile, harmonise and foster responsibility and solidarity among member states", can be read in the order creating the working group.

The pact's common implementation plan "defines the objectives and capacities that all member states must develop, at a legal and operational level, in order to effectively and fully implement the new measures approved by 2026".

According to the October order, this solution "changes the current paradigm of migration management, imposes on member states the need to create specific legal frameworks, as well as the establishment of new administrative and operational processes in the area of migration".

The working group is responsible for "promoting coordination between all the entities and services that are necessary" for the implementation of the pact, drawing up a national implementation plan, reviewing the "organisational configurations, including the coordination structures in the services" and representing Portugal in the international management of the issue, among other matters.

A monitoring committee is also planned with representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, the interior and the Cabinet office.

PJA/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa