Representations of EU migration policies and practices in Portugal: the potentiality of alternative discourses

The paper analyses the representation of the European Union's (EU) migration policies in the Portuguese media during the 2021-2022 period. It analyses news reports, editorials and opinion articles published in the three most read Portuguese daily newspapers and three TV evening news shows. This period was chosen to analyse how the Portuguese policy-makers and the media have reacted to the EU's response to the migration pressure, an ongoing challenge within the Union. This research inquires how the Portuguese parties approach the EU migration policies during the analysed period, and what kind of positions they advocate Portugal and the EU take. It also analyses how the Portuguese media covers these policies and the alternative perspectives over the subject, aiming to find which discourses are being appropriated, contested or reiterated, and which voices and discourses are silenced. Notably, by building on critical studies on migration and asylum in European policy, the paper examines the potential of possible alternative discourses and practices to act in the context of the migration pressure in Europe.