The policies Portuguese public institutions for migration and the various delays in implementing measures border control will be subject to seizure of European Union countries (EU), as revealed to DN by the Minister of the Presidency.
António Leitão Amaro was in Brussels this Monday, at a high-level meeting, where EU member states began to present their projects to “operationalize” the new Migration and Asylum Pact, approved last February in the European parliament.
“In addition to the current estimate of more than 400,000 backlogs at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which worries everyone, in bilateral meetings with some countries I received several expressions of concern regarding failures in the implementation of measures and national migration policies. There was the idea that Portugal was an example for Europe in this matter, but it went from being a reference to a source of concern”, he highlighted, on the sidelines of the meeting.
It is recalled that the Migration Pact made “solidarity” with countries that are “under migratory pressure” mandatory and member states “can choose between relocating asylum seekers to their territory, making financial contributions or assist with operational and technical support when necessary.”
At the same time, it demands reinforced control over the arrival of migrants to the EU, closed centers near the borders to more quickly return those who do not have the right to asylum.
“While other countries are already presenting their projects to operationalize the Pact to deal with new waves of migration, Portugal has practically nothing covered. The operational and administrative incapacity was total, including the situation of Expressions of Interest, which were not very satisfactory in terms of control reliability”, asserts the vice-president of the PSD.
One of the main concerns is the ETIAS systema new border control equipment, which all countries must have working in October to start at the beginning of 2025. “Tests must be carried out and the system validated by July, this requirement has been known for years, and nothing was made. We run the risk of being placed on the Schengen “red list”, warns Leitão Amaro. This measure, it should be noted, could leave Portugal out, or with limitations, in free movement within the Schengen area.
As DN had reported last February, Portugal lost European funding of 10 million euros that was previously processed by SEF, for the installation of the aforementioned “smart borders” system, an amount that had to be returned to Brussels. When the SEF was extinguished on October 29, 2023, the financing had not been executed.
The costs for each member state to develop the national components of ETIAS and SES (the electronic system that will record and store information on entry, exit and entry denials) were borne by the general EU budget, with funding starting to be made available under the multi-annual framework of the Internal Security Fund (FSI) for the period 2014-2020. The amounts differed depending on factors such as the length of the external border, the number of border crossing points or the number of people crossing them.
Portugal saw approval, in 2020, of the amount of 9,625,064 million euros, a 100% contribution for the applications presented by the former SEF for ETIAS (3,216,564 euros) and for SES (6,412,500) , but which were never implemented, leaving the country in a situation of delay in the development of these systems
It was the Internal Security System (SSI) who inherited the entire process at the beginning of the year, when the funds were already lost, and the secretary general, ambassador Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro (which will be released in July for NATO) prepared with the government in management a process of direct adjustment in the value of 25 million euros.
At Council of Ministers Resolution approving the measure, the executive recognized that “only in October 2023 and as a result of various constraintsincluding those arising from the COVID-19 disease pandemic”, the implementation phase “saw its new schedule and final requirements for respective interoperability confirmed”.
Because he understands that it is “crucial that Portugal continues to guarantee the ability to control the EU’s external borders in the Schengen Area” and because he considers it “to be urgent to carry out the expenditure, with the acquisition of hardware and software with a view to implementing and/or updating of European information systems on borders and foreigners”.
However, the Minister of the Presidency points out, “this direct adjustment process was also delayed and it’s not ready yet. What you feel is that although this extinction process took three years (it started in 2021 with the decree-law) there was a total standstill in several areas”.
A European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), the entity responsible for implementing the aforementioned “smart borders”, already will have questioned Portugal.
Leitão Amaro says that the government shares the diagnosis of the President of the Republic who harshly criticized the process of extinguishing the SEF and the service of the new Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA), classifying it as “political ineptitude”.
As DN reported, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considered the delays in issuing documents “something out of this world” and “negative discrimination”.
For the head of state, the PSD must address the issue with “priority” in an “urgent” manner, but without “radical solutions” so that foreign citizens can continue with their lives in Portugal. “To know what their status is, to work, to have access to Health, Social Security and the children’s school”, he stressed.
“Or do we do a stoic recovery and to make up for all lost time and get the system up and running on time, or political ineptitude will lead to serious problems for Portugal”, concludes Leitão Amaro.
When asked what solutions he had prepared, both for the implementation of ETIAS and for the delays in processes at AIMA, he referred to “later”.
