Humberto Delgado Airport, Lisbon
Brussels demarcates itself from the Government’s decision, GNR soldiers immediately reinforce infrastructure. Unbeknownst to the European Commission, border control was being simplified: experts warn of “the absence of exit controls at the border crossing point” at the airport.
The European border control system for non-EU citizens will be suspended for three months at Lisbon airport, an infrastructure that will be reinforced “immediately” with GNR soldiers, the Ministry of Internal Administration announced today.
In a statement, the Government justifies the reinforcement of contingency measures at Humberto Delgado Airport with “the worsening of constraints in the arrivals area” of non-European passengers coming from outside the Schengen area due to the evolution of the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), which has been causing problems for months.
“Considering the need to implement and reinforce the contingency measures defined in September so that it is possible to achieve in the arrivals area the reduction in times already achieved in the departures area”, the Government determined “the immediate suspension for three months of the application of the EES computer system, under European regulations” at Lisbon airport, says the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI).
The MAI states that a “immediate reinforcement” of soldiers from the National Republican Guard with certified training in border control.
The ministry also indicates that it will be “increased by around 30% the capacity of electronic and physical equipment for controlling external borders to the maximum supported by the current airport infrastructure”.
The European Commission said it will ask the Portuguese authorities for “more details” about the suspension of the European border control system for non-EU citizens, but revealed that the decision is unrelated to problems with the implementation of this system.
“We will contact the Portuguese authorities to ask for more details about their plans,” European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta told Lusa. The spokesperson for the community executive reinforced that the decision to suspend the European border control system “is not related to any problems with the entry and exit system” of the territory of the European Union (EU).
“Serious deficiencies”
Without prior warning, European Commission technicians pointed to “serious deficiencies” at border security control at the capital’s airport, according to , between December 15th and 17th. It was the Commission’s warnings that forced the imposition of these emergency measures.
The team of European experts will have warned about deficiencies related to low quality of border controls first and second line, as well as about , something that several entities and several media outlets, including ZAP, had already reported.
The experts further stated that, Unbeknownst to Brussels, the border control procedure was often being simplified. Point to “absence of exit controls at the border crossing point from Lisbon Airport”.
