LISBON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission has mobilized approximately 8 million euros (9.28 million U.S. dollars) in infrastructure funding and deployed around 25 border agents to support Portugal in managing its airport borders.
The move comes following disruptions caused by the rollout of the European Union's new Entry/Exit System (EES), European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Magnus Brunner said Wednesday.
Lusa News Agency reported that Brunner said the measure had been created specifically for countries facing greater pressure during the tourist season, such as Portugal. He noted that full compliance with the system would be required after September.
To manage peak pressure, Portugal has activated a legal mechanism allowing the temporary suspension of biometric data collection for up to six hours per day at airports in case of severe delays. The measure, introduced under the EES adaptation period, will remain available until September.
Portugal's minister for internal affairs, Luis Neves, said the government is optimistic about the tourism peaks in summer, pointing to expanded booth capacity, more e-gates, additional staff, enhanced training and increased physical space at the country's main airports.
"We view this operation regarding security and airport border control with a much more optimistic outlook than we did 15 days ago, or a month, or two months ago," Neves said.
The EES, which came into force in October 2025, replaces manual passport stamps with biometric and digital records for non-EU nationals entering and exiting the Schengen area. Since its launch, nearly 90 million entries and exits have been registered.
Commission data show that first-time registration under the system takes on average just over one minute in most member states. Long queues have nonetheless been recorded in recent months at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports.
