“In Faro, the new ‘Entry and Exit System’ machines have started working,” said the minister, when asked about the long waits at immigration control, guaranteeing that “these steps are already being taken.”

Admitting that “Portugal was very behind for a long time in relation to the ‘Entry and Exit System’,” Pinto Luz guaranteed that investments “in new servers, and new machines, ensure that in the next two weeks the situation will tend to be regularised.”

The minister said that “this investment in servers, as well as in new automatic machines,” will “facilitate faster access for EU citizens and allow police officers, those men and women who currently guarantee access at our borders, to actually spend their time with those passengers who really need their attention”.

This system, planned for the entire European Union, aims to speed up entry and exit movements at airports and at the same time increase security.

In recent weeks, there have been images of long queues of passengers from countries outside the Schengen Area at Faro and Lisbon airports, waiting for several hours for immigration control.

Last week, the Police Professionals’ Union Association (ASPP/PSP) warned of the exhaustion of professionals assigned to the Immigration and Borders Unit due to various situations that are being experienced at airports, and drew attention to the fact that with summer approaching, efforts are needed to “overcome obstacles and mitigate the harm to citizens, but mainly to PSP professionals”.

Photo kindly supplied by Thomas Callan