PS Socialists say they will be requesting an urgent debate in parliament to hear the government’s position on the suspension of the European border control mechanism at Lisbon airport. They hope the debate will take place on Wednesday, January 7.
MP Luís Testa tells Lusa the request will be presented on Friday in the expectation that “the interior minister (Maria Lúcia Amaral), who has primary responsibility for these issues, but also the cabinet office minister (António Leitão Amaro)” will be ready to hear it “immediately”.
“We cannot continue to watch what we have been seeing in recent days at Lisbon airport and also remain unaware of the real reasons behind the suspension of this computer programme, which is a robust programme that provided the country with conditions of security regarding access,” he stresses.
In addition to the interior minister, Leitão Amaro “has explanations to give to parliament” because “he has always played a role in conducting these issues and, in fact, announced with great pomp and circumstance the inauguration of this robust computer system that was to be an example of the country’s modernisation”.
Luís Testa says he does not think the government has “voluntarily provided the necessary clarifications”, while “new information has emerged that requires explanations.
“With every passing hour, we are surprised by news about issues we were unaware of. Even today, this news brought to the public about an imposition by the European Commission regarding the mobilisation of police forces for the airport, that there were procedures that were not being done correctly and that security needed to be reinforced with more personnel. We did not know this, the government never spoke about it.”
According to Testa, we also need to know “the real reasons for suspending the new system for third-country nationals entering the country and, consequently, the European Union”.
“We fear that, with this suspension, the great virtue of implementing this system – which was the real-time circulation of biometric data across all European Union countries – will be called into question and, with that, the security of the national and European space.”
Testa adds that the implementation of the system was not carried out “with the preparation and competence that was required”, but that this “cannot serve as a justification for simply suspending it”.
With an urgent debate scheduled, the PS hopes it – and the country – will get all the answers to questions left hanging.
“The first available day for this urgent debate to take place is January 7, and it is on that day that we hope it will take place,” said Testa.
Source: LUSA
