The Portuguese Government has agreed to make a financial contribution of €8.4 million to the European Commission under the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.
The payment is being made is in order to avoid accepting around 420 asylum seekers as part of the bloc’s mandatory solidarity mechanism for 2026.
The decision forms part of the EU’s annual “solidarity” pool, agreed by member states in December 2025.
This pool requires countries to contribute to managing migratory pressure through one of three options: Relocating asylum seekers from frontline states (primarily Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus); providing financial payments (set at approximately €20,000 per person not relocated); or offering operational support such as staff or infrastructure.
For 2026, the first partial year of the pact’s full application (starting on June 12), the total solidarity target includes around 21,000 relocations or equivalent contributions, down from an initial EC proposal of 30,000.
Portugal’s allocated share equates to about 2 per cent of this figure, leading to the obligation for 420 relocations or the corresponding financial alternative.
The centre-right government under Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has justified the choice of payment by arguing that Portugal lacks the capacity to host additional asylum seekers without disrupting its reception and integration systems.
Officials, including Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro, have contested the EC’s calculation methodology, claiming it relies on outdated data that fails to account for Portugal’s recent influx of around 1 million immigrants.
This, they say, has already strained reception facilities and return structures.
“For many years Portugal has been hiding the number of immigrants it had,” Amaro told Portuguese media.
“We learned this year, from work done last year, that Portugal had 1 million more than was known, that the reception and reception and return structures were much more crowded and that we also had people in an illegal situation much higher than we expected and that, therefore, it is necessary to return, to remove people in an illegal situation to their countries,” he said.
Portugal has requested a reassessment of its situation from the EC.
A decision on any potential adjustment or exemption is expected in the first half of this year.
Despite this ongoing evaluation, the financial commitment has been formalised and published in the Official Journal of the EU, with payments to the solidarity reserve scheduled to begin in June.
The move aligns with the pact’s design, which allows member states to opt for financial contributions instead of relocations — a compromise introduced to accommodate countries wary of mandatory redistribution.
Several other EU nations have signalled similar preferences or secured reduced obligations, although Portugal’s case has drawn attention due to its status as a southern European country not traditionally on major maritime migration routes.
By choosing to pay, Portugal has distanced itself from countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, which have not made any commitment, either in terms of reception or finance and which are now risking infringement proceedings.
The Portuguese decision might be related to polls, as anti-mass migration candidate André Ventura from the Chega party has risen to front-runner in the imminent presidential elections, the first round of which will take place on January 18.
The poll, carried out by the centre of the Portuguese Catholic University for the media (CESOP ) RTP, Antena 1 and Público, indicates that Ventura would achieve 24 per cent of the votes, ahead of former Socialist minister António José Seguro.
