On Monday, the interior minister guaranteed that the number of personnel monitoring land and sea borders will triple with the liquidation of the SEF due to the transfer of competence to the Republican National Guard.
“From October 29, we will have three times more people controlling sea and land borders. We will triple the number of personnel we will have in maritime border regulation, as well as in the field of cross-border cooperation, in particular in border control. safety,” José Luis Carneiro told reporters at the end of the GNR Coastal Control Day ceremony.
The unit, now in its 15th year, will be renamed the GNR Coastal and Border Control Unit following the closure of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), as it will be responsible for monitoring, checking and controlling maritime and land borders, including cruise lines. terminals.
According to the minister, to monitor and control the borders, 233 GNR soldiers were trained by the SEF, in addition to the 80 SEF inspectors temporarily assigned to these security forces who are already performing these functions.
The liquidation process of the SEF is scheduled for Sunday, the powers of this security service will be transferred to seven organizations, with the police passing to the PSP, GNR and PJ, and the functions of administrative matters related to foreign citizens will be transferred to the Institute of Registration and Notary (IRN) and the new Agency on Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which will begin work on Sunday.
The minister also assured that “all issues are properly structured” regarding border control and surveillance, as well as national security.
According to the government official, this is the result of work that began in May 2022, when the PSP began collaborating with the SEF on air border control, and in December last year, when the GNR began training with SEF inspectors.
José Luis Carneiro explained that the basic laws of the PSP and GNR will be changed, taking into account that the National Republican Guard will integrate a coastal and border control unit into its structure, and the public security police will have a branch responsible for security at airports. control and division of airport and border control.
The transition regime for SEF workers establishes that inspectors will be transferred to the judicial police and non-police staff to the new agency and IRN, with a “transitional functional distribution regime” that allows SEF inspectors to serve for two years in the PNR and PSP on air and maritime border posts.
The minister clarified that about 400 SEF inspectors will continue to work at the air and sea borders, 324 of whom are in the PSP and 80 in the PPR.
“In a year this will be 100%. If everything goes well, then in October 2024 about 50% of the staff will leave, that is, about 200 inspectors will move to the joint venture,” he explained.
Asked about the lack of information from AIMA, the minister sent clarification to Undersecretary for Parliamentary Affairs Ana Catarina Mendes, who is overseeing the new agency that will take over the administrative side of SEF.
However, he guaranteed that “everything will proceed within the framework of institutional normality” and “everything will be closed” until Sunday.
590 SEF General Career and IT staff will be transferred to AIMA and 75 General Career staff will be transferred to IRN.
As part of this process, a new configuration of the Portuguese border control system will also be created, with the creation of a Borders and Foreigners Coordination Group, which will operate under the leadership of the Secretary General of the Internal Security System.
The restructuring of the SEF was decided by the previous government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, but was delayed twice.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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