On February 13, Foreign Affairs Minister Anatoly Zlenko and his Portuguese counterpart, Antonio Martins da Cruz, signed an agreement in Kyiv on the temporary migration of Ukrainian nationals to Portugal.
The document is designed to give Ukrainians full social protection. According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, an estimated 50,000 Ukrainians work illegally in Portugal, with some 1.5 million more working unofficially elsewhere abroad. On his part, the Portuguese Foreign Minister cited a figure of 60, 000 Ukrainians working illegally in his country. He thanked our compatriots for their contribution to the development of Portugal and said that Ukrainians form the biggest foreign community in Portugal. To quote Mr. Zlenko, this agreement is fundamental as it is designed to protect human rights. Thus, Portugal is the third EU country which legalized foreign workers on its territory, Ukrainians included, on the heels of Greece and Spain. Ukrainians are employed in many sectors of the Portuguese economy. As has been evidenced by history, foreign workers, inclusive of illegal ones, appear where there is a demand for them. To illustrate, the economy of war-ravaged Germany was largely restored by foreign laborers, namely the Turks, Poles, Italians, and, notably, the Portuguese.
In the course of his visit to Kyiv, the Portuguese minister also stressed that his country is sympathizing with Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, and that Lisbon is supporting Ukraine’s determination to join the WTO and be recognized by the EU as a market economy.






