In an interview with RTP, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that "there are fundamental social problems here that have nothing to do with being right-wing or left-wing, it has to do with the dignity of the people".

Questioned if the signing of protocols to solve housing problems of Odemira agricultural workers and the raising of the sanitary fence in two parishes of that municipality in Beja district is enough, the Head of State answered: "No".

"There were immediate political effects, removed in terms of health, in terms of housing, immediately and in the longer term. Now, there are many situations like this in the country. And, therefore, there are broader political consequences and conclusions", he added.

According to the President of the Republic, "what gave rise to concrete decisions by the Government in this case probably has to be assessed in advance in other cases".

"Because there may be other cases where there are difficulties in controlling the legalisation of immigrants or problems - which we know are not only with immigrants, but also with the Portuguese - regarding housing conditions", he justified.

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, "one lesson" to be learnt from the Odemira case is to look at immigration: "We are a country of emigrants and we are legitimately outraged when our emigrants are not well treated abroad. We have to start seeing it in the same way when emigrants from other countries are immigrants here".

"In the second place, we need to open our eyes to a reality: we need immigrants economically, and we will need more immigrants - some more qualified, others less qualified", he said, noting that they do "jobs that the Portuguese don't accept doing, even when they are unemployed".