Portugal
wants Britain to stay in the European Union, but while the new
Socialist government will listen to Prime Minister David Cameron’s
requests for EU reforms, certain demands would be beyond the pale.
“Our position
is very simple,” said Portugal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Augusto Santos Silva, this week. “We will do everything in our
power so that the UK remains in the EU.”
However,
the foreign minister rejected any accommodation that “called into
question fundamental values” such as freedom of movement and
non-discrimination.
The
Socialist government’s attitude to the possibility of a Brexit is
much the same as that of the previous centre-right administration.
The subject did not figure in debates during the run-up to the
inconclusive October general election.
After
meeting Cameron in Lisbon in September, former Prime Minister Pedro
Passos Coelho said he agreed that the EU needed modernising but that
its core principles must be kept intact.
Ironically,
it is conceivable that the EU could indirectly bring about the
downfall of the minority Socialist government. Although the
Socialists have started to introduce a raft of anti-austerity
measures, the far-left parties on whom they depend for power are out
of step on some fundamental European issues.
The
Communist Party wants Portugal out of the EU altogether. The Left
Bloc is less radical but still eurosceptical and aligned with
Greece’s Syriza.
While
Portugal and Britain have had an alliance spanning more than six
centuries, they have some key differences on modern Europe. The most
obvious is that unlike the UK, Portugal is a member of the Eurozone
and of the Schengen open borders agreement. Most Portuguese believe
their economic future lies within the single market.
Opinions
on whether the UK should stay or go vary considerably among
Portuguese citizens and also among British residents in this country.
Prime
Minister Cameron has set out a draft deal encompassing “substantial
change” that would include an ‘emergency brake’ on migrant
benefits. Exit campaigners say it does not come close to what he had
earlier promised.
The
proposed reforms will be debated at a crunch EU summit later this
month. Depending on the outcome, Britain’s ‘in / out’
referendum could be as early as this June.
Support
for Brexit is growing in the UK, with 42% of those polled wanting to
leave the union, according to the latest YouGov poll.
A
separate study commissioned by the Daily Mail last Friday showed
a surge in support for continued membership, with 54% wanting to stay
in, 36% wanting to leave and 10% undecided.
British
citizens living in Portugal are in two minds about the possibility of
their homeland leaving, but those who have lived abroad for less than
15 years will be eligible to have their say in the upcoming
referendum.
Expats
are being strongly encouraged to register to vote. The British
Ambassador to Lisbon, Kirsty Hayes, has been raising awareness of the
Overseas Voters Registration campaign launched by the Electoral
Commission in the UK. Ambassadors in other European countries have
been doing the same. Registering online is a simple procedure
(see below).
It
is far from clear how a Brexit would impinge on life for the
estimated 40,000 Brits in Portugal, the 115,000 in Germany, 200,000
in France, 290,000 in Ireland, 760,000 in Spain and plenty more
elsewhere.
Among
the imponderables wafting around: Would Portugal be obliged to treat
existing or any new immigrants from the UK with the same restrictions
that apply to non-EU citizens?
And
what of the rights of the estimated 107,0000 Portuguese-born
residents of the UK?
Clarifications
will hopefully emerge in the weeks and months of hot debate that lie
ahead.
* British expats who have lived abroad no more than 15 years can register to
vote here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
