Portugal joins eight countries in calling for right to suspend EU border system beyond September

Portugal has joined eight other European countries in asking the European Commission to extend the emergency provision allowing countries to temporarily suspend the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) if technical problems threaten to cause major disruption at border crossings.

The request comes just days after Portugal deployed 367 new PSP border police officers to airports across the country in a bid to reduce the long queues experienced by travellers since the digital border system was introduced.

In a joint letter to European Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner, Portugal, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland warned that allowing the current emergency mechanism to expire on September 6 could create serious operational problems during periods of heavy passenger traffic.

The mechanism allows countries to temporarily suspend the EES and return to manual passport stamping and paper-based border checks if the system suffers technical failures or exceptional disruption.

The ministers stressed that they remain fully committed to the Entry/Exit System, which records the entry and exit of non-EU travellers using biometric and digital data instead of passport stamps.

However, after eight months of operating the system, they say experience has shown that significant problems can arise under exceptional circumstances and that countries should retain the option of temporarily switching back to manual procedures whenever necessary.

Portugal boosts border controls

The request comes as Portugal continues efforts to ease pressure at its airports during the busy summer travel season.

On Monday, 367 newly trained officers from the PSP’s National Foreigners and Borders Unit began reinforcing border controls at airports across the country after completing the theoretical phase of their training.

The largest deployment was to Lisbon Airport, which received 170 officers, followed by Porto (78), Faro (69), Madeira (29) and the Azores (21).

Although the recruits are still completing a two-week supervised operational placement, they immediately began assisting with frontline border checks.

The additional officers form part of a broader government effort to reduce waiting times after the rollout of the EES led to lengthy queues, particularly at Lisbon Airport, where some passengers reported waiting several hours to clear immigration.

The government has also installed additional document control desks and more electronic passport gates at Portugal’s busiest airports.

Despite those measures, Portuguese authorities argue that retaining the ability to temporarily suspend the EES in exceptional circumstances remains essential while passenger numbers peak during the summer.

Michael Bruxo

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.