Lisbon, Dec. 30, 2025 (Lusa) - The leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) accused the government on Tuesday of "unpreparedness and incompetence" after the temporary suspension of the border control system for non-EU citizens at Lisbon airport and asked the prime minister for explanations about the security risk.
"The chaos at Lisbon airport shows the government's unpreparedness and incompetence in managing the most sensitive issues of the state," said the PS secretary-general in a note sent to Lusa.
José Luís Carneiro also states that the suspension of the European border control system "shows this government's failure to plan for the peak in demand at national airports and constitutes a factor in the government's loss of credibility, which undermines the prestige of the state itself".
In this note, José Luís Carneiro argued that the prime minister "has a strict duty to explain to the country" whether the three-month suspension of the European border control system for non-EU citizens at Lisbon airport could pose "dangers to national security".
The Socialist secretary-general also asked Luís Montenegro whether the Government "prepared a timely response plan for demand at national airports" and, if so, asked the prime minister to detail "what this plan consists of and how it was coordinated with national responsibilities towards our Schengen partners".
"The answer to these questions must be given by the person with ultimate responsibility for the Internal Security System, namely the prime minister," stressed the PS leader.
The European border control system for non-EU citizens will be suspended for three months at Lisbon airport, which will be reinforced "immediately" with military personnel from the GNR, the Ministry of Internal Administration announced today.
In a statement, the Government justified the reinforcement of contingency measures at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon with "the worsening of constraints in the arrivals area" for non-European passengers from outside the Schengen area due to the evolution of the European Union's new Entry/Exit System (EES).
"Considering the need to implement and reinforce the contingency measures defined in September so that it is possible to achieve in the arrivals area the reduction in times already achieved in the departures area," the Government has determined "the immediate suspension for three months of the application of the EES computer system, under European regulations" at Lisbon airport, according to the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI).
The MAI states that there will also be an "immediate reinforcement" of National Republican Guard military personnel with certified training in border control.
The ministry also indicates that "the capacity of electronic and physical equipment for external border control will be increased by around 30% to the maximum supported by the current airport infrastructure".
Lisbon airport had already been reinforced with 80 PSP agents during the Christmas and New Year period due to long waiting times.
The new European border control system for non-EU citizens, called EES, came into operation on 12 October in Portugal and the other Schengen countries, and since then, waiting times have worsened, particularly at Lisbon airport, with passengers sometimes having to wait several hours.
The Internal Security System (SSI) had already acknowledged that the EES could be suspended during Christmas to avoid airport queues, a measure authorised by the European Commission.
FM/ADB // ADB.
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