The Portuguese government assured today that the country can apply the European rules of the Entry and Exit System (SES) from October, concluding the commitment made to its EU partners.
“By investing 24 million euros we have transformed our Portuguese borders into safer borders,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Leitão Amaro, who, accompanied by his counterpart from the Internal Administration, Margarida Blasco, visited Lisbon airport.
“By securing our borders, it means that if a Mr. João enters and leaves the country, the next time he arrives his identification details must match, if he returns as Mr John, he will be denied entry,” explained Leitão Amaro, stressing that Portugal’s border control will be more robust, therefore leading to greater trust from Portuguese nationals.
“When we took office, the programme was stashed away in a cupboard. Portugal managed to assemble the whole thing because it was at risk of being suspended from full permanence in the Schengen area.”
“Portugal receives a high proportion of visitors from outside the Schengen area: the United Kingdom, the United States of America, South America, and Asia, and it will be a very demanding process from October,” stressed the minister.
In turn, the Minister of Home Affairs highlighted the effort to train PSP staff to respond to this new model, which involves the collection of biometric data from all visitors, in a database shared with European partners.
The new SES was presented to the government by elements of the Internal Security System (SSI) and the PSP.
