In reaction to the news about a hypothetical suspension of Portugal, admitted about two weeks ago by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, and to the position taken today in Expresso newspaper by a spokesperson for the European Commission, who ruled out the suspension scenario of the European space, the SSI highlighted in a statement Brussels' recognition of the work that has been developed.

“The European Commission (…) guarantees that it is cooperating with all member states, including Portugal, and there is no scenario of our country being suspended from the Schengen area. It does not refute or correct either the SSI or the Government. On the contrary, it corroborates the progress achieved. It means that the SSI and the Government are doing their part, making every effort to ensure that Portugal is part of the new system”, the note reads.

The statement also indicates that “as stated by the European Commission, the Government and the SSI, Portugal no longer runs the aforementioned risk nor does this scenario of non-compliance arise”.

The body led by Secretary General Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro clarified that it has been informing the Government “about the tests and preparations for the entry into production of the Entry and Exit System (SES/EES) in October this year and, six months later, the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS)”.

He also mentioned that on April 29th he alerted Leitão Amaro “to the need for Portugal to meet the time targets (…), under penalty of running the risk of being suspended from Schengen”, considering that any failure to comply with this process “would effectively put at risk Portugal’s full participation” in the new system.

The SSI also highlighted the authorisation of extraordinary expenditure of up to 25 million euros given in February by the previous Government to speed up the resolution of this situation, stressing that the organisation and the executive are “complying with the established calendar”.

“Since then, Portugal has been recovering from delays, informing the Government, the Commission, the competent agencies and European partners step by step”, observed the SSI, without failing to highlight that a failure of the country in these goals would jeopardise the free movement of people and would require the reinstatement of internal controls at borders, in addition to being able to imply control in other member states on people moving to and from Portugal.

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