The support of the PSP was requested to “face the foreseeable exponential increase in the arrival of passengers in the summer period, which coincides with the 2nd United Nations Ocean Conference in Portugal”, announced SEF in a statement.

“It is therefore essential to strengthen the SEF’s capacity to control the European Union’s external borders, guaranteeing the security of the Schengen Area and promoting the desired fluidity in the processing of passengers entering and leaving the country through air borders”.

According to the document, the operational support of the PSP with SEF will be "provided by qualified agents with training given by SEF trainers, within the framework of the ongoing restructuring process".

The restructuring, which provides for the end of the SEF and the distribution of powers and staff to the PSP, GNR, the Judiciary Police, the Institute of Registries and Notaries and to a new body to be created, the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA), has already been postponed twice [by the previous and current Government].