After all the affirmations that hideous queues at border control gates at Lisbon airport had ‘nothing to do with the new European Entry/ Exit System (EES), the system is to be temporarily reactivated on Monday “to assess improvements introduced” since Portugal’s government called a halt to the agony.
Lusa reports that a police source has stressed that after being suspended (due to deeply-unpopular/ damaging passenger waiting times), the EES “underwent technical changes”, and 24 GNR agents were drafted in “to reinforce passenger control”.
According to the same source, Monday’s test will serve “to make an assessment, after which the system will be suspended again”.
The new European border control system for non-EU citizens came into operation on October 12 in Portugal and other Schengen countries, after which waiting times at border check points worsened – particularly at Lisbon airport. The ordeals suffered by thousands started ‘giving Portugal a bad name’, and thus the decision, finally, following a blasting from a VIP in the tourism business, to suspend the system for three months.
The situation had already seen the government set up an ‘emergency task force’ to try and manage the crisis – but the second phase of EES (requiring the collection of biometric data) proved too much even for all the ministers involved, and thus the decision to pull the system completely for the next quarter.
Last week in parliament, Paulo Simões Ribeiro, Deputy Secretary of State for Internal Administration, assured the suspension “in no way compromises national security” – stressing the measure is “exceptional and temporary”, designed to “avoid operational constraints and negative impacts on the flow of passengers.”
Ribeiro also said that the measures taken were already having positive effects.
Source: LUSA
