Francisco Calheiros was one of the speakers at Chega's parliamentary sessions, in a panel on the theme “Boosting the Portuguese economy”.

“The lack of workforce is a reality. It has been overcome by immigration, and I think there is no other way to do it”, he argued.

The president of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation considered it necessary “to create conditions for them to come, so that there are no endless queues for services so that they have housing, employment contracts and so that they can have all the conditions to be integrated, as the Portuguese want them to be”.

In the same panel, Chega MP Filipe Melo did not agree with this position.

“We do not need immigrants to end the lack of labour, what we need is to end the RSI, to put those who are receiving [this subsidy] to work, and thus not need immigrants”, he stated, arguing that “this is the prerequisite for the economy to function”.

In a second intervention, the president of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation refuted: “we can put all the people who receive the RSI [in jobs now occupied by immigrants], but it is not enough”.