Keeping the nation united: structures and mechanisms connecting emigrants to Portugal by Observatorio Diasporas

ROOM DOCUMENT N°7

JOINT OAS/OECD TECHNICAL SEMINAR ON: OAS CONTINUOUS REPORTING SYSTEM ON LABOUR MIGRATION FOR THE AMERICAS (SICREMI) Tuesday 17 March 2009 Venue: 1889 “F” Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006 Padhila Vidal Room

KEEPING THE NATION UNITED: STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS CONNECTING EMIGRANTS TO PORTUGAL Jorge Macaísta Malheiros

This room document has been prepared by Jorge Macaísta Malheiros (Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon). The views expressed are those of the author and do not commit either the OECD, the OAS or the national authorities concerned.

KEEPING THE NATION UNITED: STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS CONNECTING EMIGRANTS TO PORTUGAL

Jorge Macaísta Malheiros Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning University of Lisbon

Introduction 1. The relatively quick transition from emigration to immigration experienced by Portugal since the late 1970s and clearly reinforced after the second half of the 1990, seems to deny what Magalhães Godinho (1978) calls the “structural character of Portuguese emigration”. Nevertheless, the condition of a country of emigration or, more appropriately, a country with emigrants, is not lost, even if the emigration has decreased and changed in nature over the past three decades (predominantly temporary, slightly more feminised and skilled, involving new destinations such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom or more recently Angola). In fact, the 5 million Portuguese and Luso-descendents spread throughout the world outnumber the immigrants settled in Portugal by a proportion of 10 to 1. 2. But it not just a question of numbers; Portuguese emigrants and their offspring feed a “coming and going” process between the host countries and Portugal that still involves intense exchanges of goods, information and even people, which is facilitated by the contemporary process of “spatial shrinking” caused by the decrease in the relative costs of international transport and also by the progress in telecom (mobile phones, internet…) and media (e.g. the Portuguese international TV chains). Finally, if the “issue of immigration” has been ranked high in the Portuguese political agenda of the later 15 years, emigration was never left outside this agenda, even if its political relevance has become smaller in recent years. The creation of the “Emigration Observatory” in 2008 that aims to collect, systematize and make available information about Portuguese emigration, the development of training programmes in Portugal for the descendants of emigrants in the 2000s or the extension of voting rights to emigrants in the Portuguese presidential elections since the 1997 Revision of the Constitution, are three examples of measures that illustrate the presence of emigration in the Portuguese political agenda. 3. Having in consideration the emigration condition of Portugal and the changes that have occurred in the last 3 decades, this paper will focus in the contents and goals of the structures and mechanisms that have been created by the Portuguese government to ensure the links between the expatriated community and the home country. After a snapshot of the contemporary position of Portugal in the domain of international migration, the structures and mechanisms that ensure political, economic and social participation of the Portuguese abroad will be described as well as their results and limitations. As most of these bodies and measures were a creation of the democratic regime in its setting up process and first consolidation stage, the analysis will focus mainly in the 1980s period. Nevertheless, several of the measures implemented in those days are still on place or were even expanded in later years (e.g. voting rights), even if others have recently been removed (e.g. the special bank loans and bank accounts targeting the immigrant public that benefitted from fiscal advantages). 2

4. Even if the systems connecting the Portuguese communities abroad with Portugal are no longer at their peak, mainly due to the reduction of the relevance of emigration both in demographic and economic terms, its analysis maybe taken as an interesting reference for more recent emigration countries. First, it shows how emigration policy evolves in response to different policy and especially migratory contexts. Secondly, it enables some assessment of the results achieved with the various measures that may be taken into consideration by countries that are implementing or strengthening systems of connection between the home countries and the diasporas. Just to mention two facts that are partially related to the Portuguese emigration policy, it is important to remember that: 1)

Portugal had a much higher return rate from the major destinations States in Europe than other former emigration countries of Southern Europe, such as Spain (SOPEMI, 2008);

Portugal was still ranked among the top five countries in absolute volume of remittances in the early 1990s (Stalker, 2000), also receiving one of the highest values of remittances per inhabitant in 1994/1995.

1. Portuguese emigration: notes about the present and the recent past 5. Since the 1990s, the position of Portugal in the global migration framework has changed, following the process that occurred in all Southern European states of the EU(15): from an emigration country where outflows were clearly higher than inflows, Portugal passed to the position of a receiving country with a positive net migration. This process is visible in table 1, which shows that negative net migration has been a clear feature of the 1960s and, though to a lesser extent, of the 1980s in Portugal. Actually, the positive migration balance of the 1970s, is associated to end of the 1960s immigratory cycle in Western Europe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at the time the major destination of Portuguese emigrants -, but especially to an extraordinary political and demographic event: the decolonization process of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. If the joint effect of the Portuguese democracy achievement in 1974 and the closing of traditional destinations in Western Europe, namely France but also West Germany, have contributed to reduce the outflows and to strengthen the inflows of nationals, the decolonization process was responsible for a major return inflow, that reached between 500 000 and 600 000 people, in the period 1974-1977. Significantly, once this turbulent and exceptional demographic period was passed, emigrants again outnumbered immigrants and Portuguese net migration returned to the negative value that characterised it in the 1950s and the 1960s. 6. Only in the 1990s, a period without any exceptional social and demographic events, characterised by the maturation of the Portuguese democratic regime and also by the consolidation of the Portuguese market economy in the framework of the European Community1, have inflows clearly outnumbered outflows. In fact, for the first time in 50 years, the Portuguese population grew basically due to net migration, which represented approximately 80% of total demographic growth between 1991 and 2001.

Portugal and Spain formally joined the EC in 1986.

Table 1 - Components of Population Change in Intercensal Periods 1960-2001 Population in the.. Population in the Population beginning of period end of the period change 8889392 8663252 -226140 8663252 9833014 1169762 9833014 9867147 34133 9867147 10356117 488970

1960-1970 1970-1981 1981-1991 1991-2001

Natural increase 1072620 794194 349549 84223

Net migration -1298760 375569 -315416 404747

Rates per 1.000 average population Population change

Natural increase Net migration 1960-1970 -25,8 122,2 -148,0 1970-1981 126,5 85,9 40,6 1981-1991 3,5 35,5 -32,0 1991-2001 48,4 8,3 40,0 Sources: INE, 1960, 1970, 1981, 1991 and 2001 Census. INE, Statistical Yearbooks (various years).

Fig. 1 - Emigração Portuguesa por principais destinos (1930-1999) 60000

160000 140000

50000 120000 40000 100000

30000

80000 60000

20000

40000 10000 20000 0

Anos

Brasil Suiça

EUA África Sul

Canadá Venezuela

Alemanha França (right scale)

7. A closer look to the historical outflow of Portuguese nationals in the 20 th century (Fig.1), confirms the very significant drop between 1973 and 1975 and the relatively low emigration values that were registered between the mid-1970s and the mid 1980s2. In the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, a new emigration cycle apparently took place. Although the volumes of emigrants were substantially smaller than the ones registered in the 1960s and early 1970s, some increase can be observed in the second half of the 1980s3, Switzerland (Marques, 2006) emerging as a major destination followed by

Between 1961 and 1974, the annual average of emigrants corresponded to 102 000 people whereas the yearly average for the 1975-1985 period slackens to values below 30 000 (Baganha and Peixoto, 1997).

According to Baganha and Peixoto, the average annual number of emigrant departures between 1985 and 1992 would have reached at least 33 000 individuals.

Canada, although France and Germany4 have also kept their role of relevant host places. Wage differentials between Portugal and the main destination countries as well as the increasing ease of intra-European mobility after joining the EU in 1986, and especially after the implementation of Free Circulation in 1992, are key explanatory factors for the strengthening of Portuguese outflows. In addition, old social networks of Portuguese emigration have also played a role in this process, especially in “traditional” destinations countries, such as France (Simon, 1990) or even Canada. 8. Throughout the 1990s, overall annual outflows decreased (Figure 2), interrupted by a countercycle in the mid-1990s due to the involvement of thousands of temporary migrants from Portugal in the post-unification public works boom in Germany. Also in the beginning of the 21st century, namely after 2002 when the Portuguese economy started to display signs of contraction, some increase in the outflows seems to be observed, although the data provided by the Questionnaire to the Departure Movements applied by INE are not robust enough to sustain this feature. Notably, analysis of the stocks of Portuguese citizens registered in the main destination countries in Europe points to an increase in the outflows in the period 2002-2006 (SOPEMI-Portugal-2007), despite not being accurate enough to enable an exact quantification of the growth rate.

Figure 2 - Annual outflows of Portuguese Nationals - main destinations (1992-2003) 45000

40000

35000

30000 Germany France United Kingdom Switzerland Other countries Total

Nº

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0 1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Source: INE, Demographic yearbook.

9. In addition to a reduction in the global number of departures – at least between the early 1990s and the early 2000s – and to the emergence of new destinations in Europe (e.g. Switzerland and more

It is important to mention that the abolition of the Portuguese “Emigrant Passport” in 1988 had an impact in the emigration statistics, especially in the case of Western European destinations. Actually, the number of Emigrant Passports issued was the administrative source for the values of Portuguese emigration until 1988. After a period characterised by the absence of data, in 1992 the National Statistics Institute (INE) has started the application of the indirect Questionnaire to the Departure Movements as an addenda to the Employment Survey and the supply of data about Portuguese emigration flows was re-instated until 2004, when the spreading of the results of this questionnaire was suspended due to technical limitations.

recently Spain and the United Kingdom) and even in other continents, such as Angola 5, the post-1980s emigration incorporates new mobility strategies such as the international posting of workers hired by Portuguese enterprises that develop activities abroad or the involvement of Portuguese workers in temporary activities in other EU-member-states (e.g. harvesting in Spain or the Netherlands). All in all, Portuguese emigration modalities have become more complex after the 1980s and incorporate a larger number of temporary migrants that circulate between Portugal and other European countries. Figure 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Evolution of the stock of legal foreigners (all categories) 500000 ASIA

450000 400000 350000

LATIN AMERICA

300000 250000 NORTH AMERICA

200000 150000 100000

AFRICA

50000

2004

1999

1994

1989

1984

1979

1974

EUROPE

Source: INE and SEF (Aliens and Borders Office).

10. If the 1990s Portuguese net migration was highly positive, this was due to some reduction in the outflows but especially to a significant increase in the inflows, that accelerated substantially around the turn of the 21st century (Figure 3). Actually, the transition from country of emigration to country of immigration, that started in Portugal in the early 1990s, became clear in those years, when the registered foreign population passed from 178 000 (1998) to approximately 350 000 in 2001 and almost 450 000 in 2004. After this year, the total stock of foreign population has eventually experienced a slight decline in 2005, compensated by a return to a growth trend in the 2006 and 2007, although at much lower pace than the one registered between 1998 and 2002. 11. All things considered, we would like to stress two main conclusions from the analysis of the present position of Portugal in the domain of international migration: 1.

Portugal has made a trajectory from emigration to immigration, which started in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but that was only consolidated in the 1990s. After the immigration peak of the period 1998-2002, Portuguese net migration is now certainly more reduced, but eventually still positive.

Although we do not have accurate data on the inflows of Portuguese to Angola, the number of work visas grated to Portuguese citizens by the Angolan authorities has increased substantially in recent years. In addition, the volume of remittances sent by Portuguese citizens settled in Angola has increased 5 times between 2003 and 2007, jumping from 9,5 million Euros to almost 50 million Euros.

Despite the decrease in the emigratory flows by comparison to former periods such as the 1960s, the early 1970s and eventually the late 1980s, emigration is still an important element of the Portuguese social structures, especially in low urbanized regions of North and Centro Interior that are simultaneously the most relevant sending areas. Actually, Portuguese diaspora involves approximately 5 million Portuguese and Portuguese descendants spread throughout the world, whose 33% live in USA and Canada, 16% in France, more than 20% in Brazil and Venezuela, 6% in South Africa and 5% in the United Kingdom. Although some expressions of the interaction between the Portuguese communities abroad and Portugal are nowadays more reduced, especially in the “older” destinations of South America or even South Africa6, Portuguese emigrants still remit relatively large sums of money (2 600 million euro in 2007, 80% coming from Western European destinations), feed the Portuguese international broadcast chains such as the public RTP-Internacional, can influence electoral results for the Parliament as happened in the 1999 election, and animate many villages of the North and Centro Interior of the country during the summer holidays. In addition, for many Portuguese families, emigration is still an “everyday fact of life”, not only because close relatives were or still are living abroad, but especially because the old social networks that support emigration did not disappear and can be reactivated in periods when the “pressure to depart” is stronger, as apparently is happening in the last 4 or 5 years.

12. Finally, the issues of return and the relationship of the Portuguese “second generations” with their country of ancestry are nowadays elements that are taken into consideration in the policy measures concerning emigration. If most of the measures aiming to strengthen the links between the Portuguese communities and Portugal and to lead the Portuguese immigrants to invest in their home country were implemented by the Democratic regime in the late 1970s and especially in the first half of the 1980s, as we will see in the next section, in more recent years, the measures targeting Portuguese descendants have been modestly but progressively incorporated into emigration policy. 2. Portuguese emigration policy – from the ambiguity of the dictatorship to the democratic recognition? 13. After the beginning of the 1960s, when the emigratory flow to Europe established and increased progressively until the early 1970s, Portuguese emigration policy was marked by the implementation of control measures to regular migration, frequently in the framework of emigration agreements with the major destination countries (Rocha-Trindade, 2001). Actually, Portugal signed emigration agreements with France and the Netherlands in 1963, with Germany in 1964 and with Luxembourg in 1971. Although these agreements did not prevent irregular migration, especially to France but also to other countries, they had some regulatory effect over Portuguese emigration flows, contributed to channel emigration flows to these countries (less so for the Netherlands) and were a step, or at least a reference, in subsequent negotiations on social security or social conditions of emigrants7. In addition to emigration contingents and to transport fees, these agreements already mentioned the need to ensure the housing conditions of emigrants, as well as access to health. In some cases, even the (limited) possibility of family reunion was mentioned, as happened in the emigration agreement with France. All in all, even if these agreements were not completely effective in channelling Portuguese emigration to legal flows, they guaranteed a Portuguese 6

For instance, the volume of remittances that close to 10% of the GDP in the early 1980s (Lopes, 1996), started to decline in the early 1990s (Martins, 2003). Currently, the total volume of accounted remittances sent by Portuguese abroad has declined from approximately 3 500 million euro in 2000 (around 3% of the GDP) to just below 2 600 million euro in 2007 (around 1.6% of the GDP). Despite this trend, the volume of remittances sent by Portuguese in 2004 was still equivalent to more than 50% of the total amount of EU funds transferred to Portugal in the same year.

An example is provided by the Protocol between Portugal and France on the Social Situation of Portuguese nationals in France, which was signed in July 1971.

“quota” in the West European recruitment systems and played a role in the promotion of a relevant volume of regular emigrants to certain destinations. They also ensured some level of social protection to the emigrants (Aguiar, 1987), as well as the respect for a principle of family reunion, that has been widened in subsequent years. 14. With the democratic regime emerging from the Revolution of April 1974, the position of the Portuguese government towards the Portuguese communities abroad changed significantly. If the later years of the dictatorship already gave signs of stronger recognition and protection of the Portuguese abroad with the implementation of measures such as the opening of the first external delegations of the National Secretariat of Emigration in 1972, the ideologists of the new democratic regime assumed, from the beginning, the national relevance of the “absent nation”. While this focus of policy on the communities abroad has been facilitated by the large numbers of emigrants, their relative proximity to Portugal and the associated economic benefits, namely through the sending of remittances, two other ideological factors may have also have contributed to it. Some authors (Rocha-Trindade, 2001) mention a “substitution mechanism”, through which the Portuguese communities abroad have replaced the role of the lost Colonial Empire as a symbolical presence of Portugal and “Portugality” abroad. Others (Malheiros, 2003), refer to the relevant role played by some exiles (Mário Soares8, Álvaro Cunhal, Tito de Morais, among others) in the juridical and political reforms that established democracy in Portugal. Several of these exiles had contact with Portuguese emigration, especially in France, and were aware of the problems experienced and also of the political elements (escape from compulsory military service in the Colonial War; connection to political forces banned by the dictatorship) that complemented the fundamental economic causes of emigration. The State Secretariat of Emigration was created at the end of 1974, including the GeneralDirectorate of Emigration and the Emigration Institute. Also in November 1974, the first democratic legislation on electoral acts9 granted the right to vote to Portuguese citizens living abroad, provided that they had “an effective participation in the Portuguese economic and social life”. In practical terms, this meant having children or a spouse living in Portugal and a period of settlement abroad inferior to 5 years at the moment the law was promulgated (Ferreira, 1994). Despite the assumption of a restrictive perspective that subsequent legislation would remove, these legal devices point to the intention of the young democratic regime to establish closer links with the Portuguese communities abroad, not only through the presence in the destination places10, but also through the attribution of effective political rights to the “absent nation”. 3. Structures and mechanisms ensuring the links between Portugal and the Portuguese communities 3.1 Symbolic elements, cultural links and education 15. Probably the first and the most important symbolic element associated to the recognition of the national relevance of the Portuguese communities abroad was the establishment, in 1997, of the Portuguese National Day (the 10th of June) as the day of “Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities” (Decree-Law n.80/77 of the 10th of June). Through this decree, the Portuguese government wanted to spread a message to the Portuguese communities, assuming explicitly they were a part of the Nation. From 8

Actually, the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) - one of the two major government forces since the establishment of Portuguese democracy – has been founded in 1971 in Germany by a group of exiles.

Decrees n. 621-A, 621-B and 621-C of the 15th of November 1974.

In 1975, the State Secretariat of Emigration moved from the Ministry of Labour to the place it still occupies today in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This allowed the Portuguese emigration authorities to use the network of Portuguese embassies and consulates – that were better located to serve the Portuguese communities abroad – to contact and provide services to the emigrants. Only the recent reforms of the territorial network of consular services are partially abandoning the principle of geographical proximity to the places of concentration of Portuguese communities.

1977 onwards, the 10th of June celebrations always involves the public participation of Portuguese consular authorities together with the Portuguese associations in the destination places, in addition to a “connection speech” made by the State Secretariat and even the President of the Republic. 16. But this evocation of “saudade” based on the creation of symbolic elements of connection is prolonged in issues such as the support to the networks of Portuguese associations abroad or the promotion of Portuguese language teaching among the Portuguese communities. Concerning the first issue, there are nowadays more than 3 000 Portuguese emigrant associations in the world, encompassing disparate strategies, from the traditional elements of folk culture, religion and soccer to modern social service provision (education, assistance to the elderly, etc) within the contemporary framework of the transfer of social functions from the State bodies to the 3rd sector. In addition to these, we may also find political associations as well as organizations of Portuguese descendants. This highly diversified fabric, which involves small and large organizations, active and almost inactive ones is supported by the Portuguese government. In the 1980s, when this support was stronger, the assumption of the Portuguese associations as relevant elements of the Portuguese cultural fabric has led to the implementation of measures such as the organization of training courses in socio-cultural animation, the attribution of subsidies to Portuguese community media and support for film and cinema festivals as well as Portuguese lecture centres. The divulgation of Portuguese traditional cultural activities, such as folklore and traditional games, has also been part of the activities supported by governmental measures (Aguiar, 1987). 17. Concerning the issue of Portuguese language, the major element corresponded to the implementation in 1973 of a service aiming to support the teaching of Portuguese to the children of emigrants settled in Europe at the elementary and junior high school levels, that was first regulated by a status created in 1976 (Vasconcelos, 2001). Nevertheless, it was only in 1987 (Decree-Law n.3/87 of the 3rd of January) that a sector was explicitly created for “Elementary and High School Teaching abroad” within the framework of the Ministry of Education (Costa, 1993). Since then, the Portuguese government has developed activities that aim to frame the education policies of emigrants and their offspring, involving the creation of Portuguese language courses and Portuguese syllabus in collaboration with the host countries authorities, and the settlement of an official Portuguese teaching network in 9 European countries (Spain, Andorra, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium) where teachers recruited and paid by the Portuguese Education Ministry are placed. 18. Despite the relevant role of the Portuguese Official Elementary and High School Teaching Network in Europe11, that served an increasing number of students between 1990/1991 and 2007/2008 although involving a progressively smaller number of teachers (Table 2), there are some problems that have never been solved.

In addition to Europe, the Official Network of Portuguese Teaching also includes courses in South Africa.

Table 2 – Official Network of Portuguese Teaching in Europe Students Teachers Ratio Students/teachers 41 879 575 72,8 1990/1991 43 952 532 82,6 1997/1998 54 700 517 105,8 2007/2008(*) (*) In this year, the network covers 9 countries instead of 8, due to opening of basic Portuguese courses in Andorran schools in the early 2000s. Sources: DGAEE, 1992; DEB 2000 and GEPE, 2008.

19. Concerning the degree of recognition of the Portuguese courses, three modalities can be considered: i) Integrated teaching, when it takes place in the regular school hours and is coordinated (or even recognised as a language option) with the other teaching subjects of the host countries‟ school system; ii) Parallel Teaching, when the Portuguese class hours take place after the ordinary school hours or on weekends and iii) Extra-School Teaching, when the classes are both outside the school hours and the competences of the education authorities of the home and the host countries (initiatives of emigrants‟ associations, for instance) (Costa, 1993). Although some recent evolution in the sense of expanding the first modality (Integrated Teaching) took place in several countries, the modality of Parallel Teaching has been dominant, situation that requires extra efforts from students (that are in school when the host countries‟ colleagues are at home, resting or playing) and teachers (because they tend to have few students in each school, they are obliged to teach in several places, frequently separated by relatively large distances, as happened in France). In addition, the number of hours taught in the Portuguese courses tends to be relatively reduced, according to pedagogical and scientific needs expressed by some experts (Costa, 1993). Considering these problems, the best solutions seem to be the transition to systems of Integrated Teaching as much as possible, which enable the children of emigrants to benefit from the Portuguese teaching in ordinary teaching hours and in the global context of schooling. In addition, this makes Portuguese an optional language for the host country students, contributing to the spread the language and the culture. Naturally, the implementation of such an option is dependent on negotiations with the destination countries‟ authorities, which should be suggested as much as possible. 3.2 Consultative Mechanisms and Political Participation 20. We have already mentioned the option of the democratic regime in attributing voting rights to the Portuguese emigrants, already in the first voting legislation issued in November 1974. As a consequence, in the first general and fully democratic elections that took place in Portugal in April 1975 to elect representatives to prepare the democratic Constitution, approximately 18 500 emigrants voted. With Law n.16/1978 of the 3rd of November, the conditions for Portuguese emigrants to vote in Parliamentary elections were established, with respect for the following principles: 

Portuguese citizens registered in the Portuguese electoral rolls abroad –registration is not compulsory for Portuguese residents in foreign countries and should take place in Portuguese consulates – are entitled to elect four specific MPs that belong to two “emigration cycles”: the European cycle and the “Rest of the World cycle”. The decision to attribute two MPs to each cycle resulted from the application of a demographic relationship of 1 MP for each 55 000 Portuguese voters (there are presently 207 000 voters registered in the two cycles). Between the elections of 1980 and the elections of 2005, Portuguese citizens abroad have been electing their four MPS by mail-in ballots. Ballots were sent to the official addresses of electors abroad by the National Elections Commission and sent back to Lisbon. Because the system revealed some inefficiency (for instance, the number of null votes was always much higher than in Continental Portugal, Madeira and the Azores) and was subject to potential fraud, in September 2008 Parliament approved a new law that changed the system to require physical presence. This 10

change, which will probably be applied in „the Parliamentary election this year, will require voting places in the main concentration areas of Portuguese emigration12. 21. The number of voters grew until 1991 – 170 000 in 1980; 188 000 in 1991; but declined afterwards, to 148 000 in 2005. A registration campaign by Portuguese authorities led to an inversion of this trend and the number of voters present in the external electoral circles reached 207 000 in the end of 2008. It is worth mentioning that this volume of voters is well below the number of Portuguese citizens living abroad (less than 10%). In addition, turnout is systematically lower than in Portugal (24% against 64% in the 2005 election). Having said this, because these MPs target specifically the problems of the emigrants and bring them to the Parliament agenda, the right of political participation through the vote can not be denied to those that want to give an effective contribution to the policy of the Portuguese nation, even if they constitute a minority among the potential voters. 22. Also in this domain, a new extension of emigrants‟ voting rights took place in the context of the Constitutional Reform of 1997. According to it, the Portuguese citizens living abroad and registered in the electoral books are also entitled to vote in the Portuguese presidential elections, having already participated in the 2000 and 2005 polls. 23. In addition to the voting rights, the creation of the Consultative Council of Portuguese Communities (CCPC) by the Decree-Law n.373/80 of the 12th of September has been a relevant step in the process of ensuring a continuous mechanism for listening the problems and the suggestions of Portuguese emigrants. Created originally within the framework of the Portuguese associative movement, the Council evolved to a system of direct election by the Portuguese emigrants settled in the various destination countries that are organised as electoral circles (CAEPE-Subcomissão das Comunidades Portuguesas, 2005; Law n.48/96 of the 4th of September). With a maximum of 100 members elected for periods of 4 years, the plenary of the CCPC meets once every four years in Lisbon but has a Permanent Council that functions in the Parliament and meets at least once per year. Having the mission of informing the government in the matter of emigration policy, the council has produced a relatively large number of recommendations to the Portuguese government, especially in its most active years (286 in the 1981-1985 period13; 278 in the 1986-1990). In some cases, these recommendations are country specific, but frequently they assume a more general character in the domains of the promotion of Portuguese teaching and language, improvement of juridical, cultural and social support to the emigrants and the communities or the creation of better return conditions. 24. In addition to these measures, the nationality Law of 1981 (Law n.37/81 of the 3 rd of October) established the principle of double citizenship, allowing the Portuguese citizens living abroad to have both, the nationalities of the host country and of the origin country. Because the former nationality law (Law n. 2098, of the 29th of July of 1959) did not allow double citizenship, several Portuguese lost their nationality due to marriage with foreigners or to other naturalization processes associated, for instance, long term residence in foreign States. With the implementation of the 1981 law, some of these were able to reacquire their Portuguese citizenship retroactively. This relatively generous nationality law for emigrants, that also facilitated the acquisition of Portuguese nationality on the basis of ancestry, must be assumed as another instrument in the process of maintaining links between the expatriated Portuguese community and the motherland, ensuring formal equality in the citizenship rights.

The possibility of electronic voting was tested as an alternative, but apparently the results obtained were not robust enough to ensure efficiency and a fraud-proof system.

According to the assessment made of government response to these demands, approximately 59% received positive answers (SECP, 1986).

3.3 Remittances and mechanisms to support savings and investment in the homeland 25. As mentioned above, Portugal has received very significant volumes of remittances between the late 1960s and the early 1990s (Table 3). If we compare several Mediterranean countries that witnessed important periods of emigration between the 1960s and the 1980s, we see that Portugal was the one that most benefitted from remittances, in relative terms (as a percentage of the GDP – table 4). Table 3- Evolution of remittances sent by Portuguese emigrants 1970 1974 1980 1985 1990 1996 2000 2005 ----------2 736,5 3 458, 1 2 277, 3 Million Euro (*) 7,5 9,9 8,6 6,0 3,6 2,9 1,6 % of 7,1 GDP (*) Constant prices. Source: Bank of Portugal (treated by Patacão until 1996; after author‟s own calculations).

2007 2 588, 5 1,6

Table 4 – Percentage of remittances in the GDP (selected countries) Countries

1979/80

1984/85

1989/90

1994/95

Spain

0,73

0,54

0,36

0,37

Greece

2,74

2,85

3,19

3,30

Italy

0,34

0,39

0,14

0,02

Portugal

9,43

10,74

7,69

3,53

Turkey

2,74

3,66

3,74

2,01

Marrocos

4,96

7,14

6,97

6,25

Sources: World Bank and Bank of Cape Verde.

26. In addition to possible sociological or cultural connection of Portuguese to the homeland, these volumes of remittances have been stimulated by bank strategies (including a particular credit institution owned by the State – the Caixa Geral de Depósitos) with the public policy support. Portuguese banks have created a network of small agencies and bank agents present in the origin villages of the interior, in close contact with the emigrants and their families. In addition, Portuguese banks have also opened branches in several major destination areas, approaching the service from the potential clients and generating a social network of trust with emigrant clients. In addition to this, several banks have developed products that specifically target emigrants, namely the tax-sheltered “emigrant-account”14. This tax exemption aimed to support investment made in Portugal by emigrants (in houses, estates or the opening of businesses) and can be used for a low interest loan. 27. In addition to this, emigrants benefited from tax reductions or temporary tax exemptions in the acquisition of real estate as well as home ownership. Since 2006, some of these benefits have been formally eliminated.

Decree-Law n.323/95, from the 29th of November.

4. The 21st century situation: changing the interaction mechanisms in a post-emigration era? 28. As we have seen before, Portugal is not exactly in a post-emigration era. Emigration is now reduced and frequently temporary, but outflows are still taking place and the Portuguese communities abroad are very large, now incorporating a significant number of descendents. In addition to this, the possibilities of spatial interaction are now simplified, allowing a change in the geographical organization of services that nowadays can be satisfied through the use of internet and other technologies. 29. Considering this new framework, contemporary Portuguese emigration policies have undergone some changes and are now incorporating a set of relatively new elements. 30. First, there is a stronger interest in the “second generation”, through the maintenance of the Network of Portuguese Teaching abroad and also through the maintenance of a quota of 7% of places in the Public University System reserved for emigrants and their family members. In addition to this, other experiences have been implemented, such as the Programme (Estagiar em Portugal – Training in Portugal), launched in 2000, as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity aimed at young Portuguese nationals or youngsters of Portuguese descent (between 18 and 30) living abroad who wanted to complement and improve their socio-professional skills through paid training experiences of nine months in the Portuguese labour market. The programme targets qualified or semi-qualified young people (with full secondary school, college attendance/graduation or specific vocational training) and aims to improve the professional skills of the target groups, in a context that increases their knowledge about the Portuguese entrepreneurial fabric and strengthens their links with the effective or ancestral origin country. The answer to the Programme was very positive in the first edition (2000/2001), involving 1403 candidates from the several worldwide Portuguese communities. One thousand forty six people were selected, a figure slightly above the Programme target (1000 fellows). Unfortunately, the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP) was only able to place 277 young people. Apparently, the later editions were less successful, as demonstrated by the significant reduction of placements negotiated by the IEFP and also the decrease in the placement rate (table 5). Apparently, this reduction of the institutional investment in the Programme is having a repercussion in the number of candidates, which halves at every new edition. In addition, and despite the merit of the Programme, that tries to involve young qualified people of Portuguese descent in the national labour market, its implementation in a negative economic conjuncture reduces its attraction for potential applicants and makes job placement more difficult. Table 5 - Situation of the candidates in the three editions of the "Estagiar in Portugal" Programme Applicants

Selected

Places negotiated

Effectively Placement Placed Rate

1st ed. - 2000/2001

1403

1046

398

277

2nd ed. - 2002/2003

712

509

26,5 12,4 3rd ed. - 2005/2006 304 239 41 26 10,9 Source: DGACCP/Ministery of Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities (unpublished data).

31. Another measure in this field corresponds to the creation of the “LD<30” card (Luso-descendent under 30 years old card) that targets young (between 12 and 29 years old) Portuguese descendents living

abroad. If these youth come to Portugal with the LD<30 card, they benefit from some discounts in the use of the public transport systems, accommodation, leisure activities and some other facilities. 32. A second line of intervention is also associated to a post-emigration peak situation, but targets the other end of the demographic pyramid: the older emigrants, namely those experiencing socio-economic difficulties15. The Programme ASIC-CP, a subsidy to elderly Portuguese experiencing social difficulties, and Portugal no CoraĂ§ĂŁo (Portugal at Heart), that provides a short-term visit to Portugal to elderly Portuguese abroad for more than 10 years, are good examples of measures in this approach. 33. A third line corresponds to the follow up of temporary Portuguese migrants that are hired to develop activities in several European countries. Because there are cases of exploitation of these workers and contract violations, Portuguese authorities make warning campaigns on these situations, support workers who are victims of labour exploitation and try to cooperate with the destination country authorities to prevent and solve this kind of situation. 34. Fourth, new forms of communication with the Portuguese communities abroad have been implemented, involving the creation of a public chain of International Television (RTP-Internacional), dominated by programmes in Portuguese and spreading systematic news about Portugal. The recent creation of the portal of the Portuguese Communities by the General-Directorate of Portuguese Communities and Consular Affairs, still being developed but already providing some basic information to those that want to emigrate or are already living abroad, is another example of technological improvement at the service of the contacts between Portuguese emigrants and the public authorities. 35. Finally, a fifth line of intervention is associated to the modernization and restructuring of the Portuguese network of consular services. This involves the development of new functions in the area of economic promotion and some changes in the consular network. Within the process of redefinition of the world map of Portuguese consulates, an optimisation strategy is under implementation, leading to some closures, fusions and changes in the categories of diplomatic representations, especially in Brazil and in some West European countries that were traditionally major destinations of Portuguese emigrants (e.g. France, Germany and to a lesser extent, the Netherlands). If consulates are nowadays geographically more distant from some residential areas of Portuguese communities, the services offered are better and the use of new technologies may compensate for inconveniences caused by relocation. 5. Closing remarks 36. From the Portuguese experience in the domain of managing emigration, it is possible to draw some final thoughts that may be useful for the general debate on the role of governments in the process of facilitating the interaction between emigrants and the home community. 37. First, it is important to remember that the strategies implemented must be assumed in a dynamic perspective, both in temporal and geographical terms. Migration contexts change and emigration policies must be flexible enough to adjust themselves to changes in the flows and their nature. In addition, emigration policies are embedded in each countryâ&#x20AC;&#x;s culture and frequently involve negotiations with destination countries. This means that direct transfers of mechanisms or structures as well as attempts to impose them are likely to fail. 38. Second, home countries intra-government cooperation must be the norm and different ministries should be involved. If the Portuguese experience points to the relevance of Foreign Office in the process, 15

These situations are more frequent in the Latin American destinations (e.g. Brazil and Venezuela) than in North-America or in Europe.

the cooperation with government bodies for social security, labour and education is central for the success of actions. Good communication channels and efficiency in responses are fundamental to the success of the policies. 39. In addition, emigration management processes should be based on trust between emigrants and government bodies. Policies should be realistic and not be based on processes that cannot be fulfilled (e.g. the limited results of the Estagiar em Portugal programme are due to incapacity to guarantee workplace training). This generates distrust and waste of public resources. In addition, immaterial elements are fundamental in emigration policies – it is not just a question of remittances or remittance support; the connection to the homeland is also supported by key issues such as language and services delivered to the “second generation”. Actually, another element of a trustful relation is the development of a complementary strategy by the governments –when emigrants are asked to contribute to the home country through bank savings, investment or simply the use of their skills, governments must also contribute to these processes, either through direct monetary or indirect help (through tax reductions or exemptions, for instance) or through the creation of material and immaterial conditions for the implementation of the project or the use of the skills. 40. Fourth, emigrants must have a voice and must know that government hears their voices. Therefore, the existence of formal consultative channels of contact which “talk” to the governments as well as the capacity to elect representatives to parliaments and other sovereignty bodies that play a stronger role in the decision-making process are fundamental to strengthen the links between the absent nation and the country of origin. 41. Finally, the recent developments show that emigration impact in the host country can last after emigration peaks, but this depends on the strategies developed to link emigrants and especially emigrants‟ descendants to their countries of ancestry.

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