“On 4 July, we will deploy 340 more people, PSP officers who are currently receiving specific training at the borders. 140 will go to Lisbon, 100 to Porto, then to Faro, Funchal, and Ponta Delgada,” the Minister announced in statements to journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration of the renovation works at the GNR barracks in Vila Nova de Paiva, in the district of Viseu.

A path made with effort

Luís Neves said that “the whole path is being made with a lot of effort, with a lot of suffering, naturally, the day will come when it will yield results” and recalled that “this week alone”, the PSP “allocated more human resources that are already making a difference,” with about 50 officers in Lisbon.

“We have new spaces to accommodate people, we are acquiring technological equipment that has already been allocated, we have more ‘boxes’, where there will be more PSP officers, and therefore, we are seeking to create the conditions so that the operation during the summer, and forever, is different, for the better,” he reinforced.

The officer also said that “until we reach the optimal point,” which he hopes will be “in the shortest” possible time, “there are digital issues that need to be resolved”, especially because they “jeopardise the speed” of operations.

“But it is not attributable to Portugal; therefore, this is everyone’s job in order to balance two issues: firstly, security, knowing who enters and who leaves, and secondly, efficiency, because the aspect of those who seek us out, those who leave, especially tourism, is very relevant and the government is very committed,” he stated.

Looking at the operations

Luís Neves said it was “important to look at the operations of the last few days” at the airports and gave as an example last Saturday [30 May], which “may have been the day of the year when the most passengers used Portuguese airports”, considering that “the operation went very well”.

The Minister added that the media, for which he said he has “great respect for what is free and informs well”, should report the news and not distort reality “in some cases, maliciously, in a distorted way and with lies and untruths, which the time will come when we will talk about them, denigrating the work of those who are at the airports, denigrating the image of the country, with images from the past, some fabricated, and others with messages that do not correspond to the truth”.

When questioned about the cases he indicated, the Minister said that he would speak “in due time”, also because he said he was “not a stutterer” nor “afraid to say things”.