“Intrusion and inexplicable pressure.” Government has five ministers controlling Lisbon airport

The largest PSP union denounces the Government’s “false and unfair allegations” about Lisbon airport. There are five ministers monitoring the “embarrassments”. Police allege “inexplicable meddling and pressure” from political power.

Hugo Espírito Santothe Secretary of State for Infrastructure, assured, this Tuesday, that the Government is monitoring “very closely” the queues at Lisbon airport, admitting that they are an embarrassment for the Government, which hopes to be resolved by the summer.

“The border situation is an embarrassment for the Government. It has no other name. We have to have an attitude of humility regarding what we do and, at this moment, it is an embarrassment and the only thing that could be done was to apologize”, he stated, in Macau.

The official said that the causes exist, have been identified and that solutions are being evaluated, praising the help that ANA – Aeroportos has given in the situation.

“We currently have a very close monitoring of the Government of this topic. We have five ministers directly involvedwe are looking at the data day by day to see how long it takes to cross the border in Lisbon (…)”, added the official.

Hugo Espírito Santo recalled that “the root” of the problem “is clear” and relates to the “lack of PSP agents”.

But the police don’t ‘buy’ this version of the PSP’s lack of capacity, considering it a “fallacy”.

“Intrusion and inexplicable pressure”

Also this Tuesday, the Police Professionals Union Association (ASPP/PSP) denounced the “great revolt” by police officers at the airport of Lisbon, who refute criticism of being responsible for waiting times and accuse “intrusion and inexplicable pressure” from political power.

“After two years since the PSP took over functions at Lisbon airport, despite all the positive results regarding police activity that has guaranteeing the integrity and security of the Portuguese borderit is the waiting times that have been used to measure and qualify the quality of service provided by PSP professionals”, says the ASPP/PSP, in a document on the situation in passenger control at airport borders, a competence that the PSP inherited two years ago from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).

The document, sent to the Minister of Internal Administration, General Inspection of Internal Administration, national director of the PSP and political parties, the ASPP also reveals that It is with “great outrage that the police see their daily effort diminished by commercial ‘standards’ imposed by the ANAthus assumed by the Government of Portugal, which aim to exclusively promote air connections through Lisbon, even if to do so it is necessary to disregard the security of the Schengen Area border and, with it, the border of Portugal”.

The largest PSP union considers that it is “completely unrealistic” to define waiting times with the structure that currently exists, stressing that “it is exhausting for all police officers to be confronted daily with news about the PSP’s lack of capacity to control passengers at the borders”.

“False and unfair allegations”

“Such allegations are false and a tremendous injustice to police officers of PSP, which placed Lisbon airport at the top of the European refusal and fraud detection indexes”, he says, recalling that since the time when SEF operated at Lisbon Airport, the same infrastructure and control positions have been maintained.

According to the union, the only substantial change was the adoption of a new computer system and more recently the entry into force of the new entry and exit system, which worsened waiting timesin addition to Lisbon airport breaking its passenger record, which contributes “to the overload of an infrastructure that is inadequate for the volume of passengers passing through the border”.

Recalling that the number of human resources that the PSP has in Lisbon exclusively dedicated to border control is greater than that of the SEF, the ASPP considers “the lack of human resources is a fallacy”since “the problem of waiting times at Lisbon airport cannot be solved simply by increasing human resources”.

Union accuses Government of pressure

ASPP understands the recent Government order that foresees the reduction of waiting times at the Lisbon air border as a “pressure test”.

“Such a change requires the PSP to create a crisis office and set a target of 100 days to adopt measures that allow it to comply with the new waiting times. However, this change does not result from any structural change, reinforcement of means that increase passenger control capacity, materializing only a political intent, without any technical explanation, without any metrics and therefore destined to fail”, reads the document that results from a plenary held in November with police officers working at Lisbon airport.

ASPP also denounces “political pressure around Lisbon airport, moved by different ministries, hand in hand with ANA Aeroportos”, noting that all police officers from the Foreigners and Border Control unit of the Lisbon Command “are posted to the airport”.

The document, signed by the president of ASPP, Paulo Santosdenounces that “decisions that call into question the work carried out by police officers within the scope of border control, which denote the intrusion and inexplicable pressure of political power, which leads to changes in decisions refusing entry”, also reporting the lack of working conditions for police officers, such as the presence of rats and worn-out equipment.

In the document, the union also talks about the lack of conditions for foreign citizens who are refused entry into the country, who have to remain in the international zone and are only provided with a camp bed and are often deprived of a shower and personal hygiene, creating “a nauseating environment”.

The ASPP also highlights that “there are not the minimum conditions at the border control station to interview families, unaccompanied minors, victims or vulnerable people”.

“Police officers have been subject to external and internal pressure, misinformation, subjection to unworthy working conditions, work without breaks, repetitive and prolonged work, discredit of their work and lack of recognitionhas led to a situation of discouragement, stress and, in some situations, exhaustion of professionals”, the document also states, in which an intervention from the MAI and a position from the national management of the PSP are requested.

Government concerned about tourism

In addition to justifying the lack of police, Hugo Espírito Santo considered, this Tuesday, that there are other problems that add to these, such as “difficulty and a instability from a technological point of viewespecially in the ‘egates’” and “a greater system slowdown“.

Having identified the causes, says the government official, now it is time to try to resolve them.

“One of the things we have already decided, together with Ana – who has done remarkable work with us to help us resolve this – is redesign the entire departure and arrival area. We will increase the number of boxes and ‘egates’ by 30% at departures, we will increase them at arrivals [em] 30% of the boxes, and we will increase the ‘egates’ by 70%”, he said.

The challenge, the governor assumes, is to have the situation resolved by June“before summer”, high tourism season.