SEF inspectors are asking the government to hold meetings on the “uncertainty of the extinction process.”

The union representing the SEF inspectors has asked the government for a meeting this Sunday due to the “uncertainty of the liquidation process” of this security service, which “is detrimental to the security and economic and social development of the country.”

The SEF Professional Research and Inspection Union (SCIF/SEF) is also concerned about World Youth Day, which takes place in Lisbon in August and is supposed to welcome some 1.5 million people crossing Portuguese borders, and about the possibility of more immigrants arriving in the country.

To ensure “border security in the coming moments of large flows entering the country”, the trade union representing the inspectors of the Foreigners and Border Guards Service demanded urgent meetings of Interior Ministers José Luis Careiro and the MP for Parliamentary Affairs. Ana Catarina Mendez told Luz about the SCIF/SEF President.

Acacio Pereira argued that these meetings also aim to “guarantee that, despite delays in the process of dissolving the SEF and transferring its inspectors to the judicial police, their rights and interests will be protected in the restructuring process.” .

As part of the restructuring process of the SEF, which has been postponed until the establishment of the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA), which will take over the administrative functions of the SEF, the inspectors of this security service will be transferred to the PJ.

“World Youth Day requires increased attention in terms of border security, while at the same time the country needs immigrants for economic growth,” Acasio Pereira said.

The trade unionist stressed that “the entire restructuring of the SEF depends on the Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, who was given the responsibility of defining the APMA bylaws, but this did not happen, and given this scenario, there is an SEF on the verge of extinction, without any investment , without a subject to whom he can transfer part of his powers, in a dead end that undermines the security and economic and social development of the country.

The union explains that the disappearance of the SEF has created the need to distribute competencies and human resources between the GNR, PSP, PJ, Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN) and APMA, which have already signed protocols establishing a model for cooperation between forces and security services during the transition period.

“However, the delay in the creation of the APMA by Minister Ana Catharina Mendez sets the stage for the entire process of devolution and new distribution of functions, which has already been postponed twice, with the Minister of the Interior announcing a new March 31 deadline. “, said the same official.

According to Acasio Pereira, “the delay in the creation of the APMA puts the Portuguese borders and the country’s immigration policy in the worst of the worlds, since there is neither investment in what is, nor progress in what will remain.”

The union president also emphasized that in the current circumstances in which the SEF finds itself, “there are no adequate structures in the country to attract this immigration, to protect it from the operation of transnational trafficking networks, and also to properly manage the flows from its entry across the country’s borders.”

On the other hand, he argued, “initiatives such as World Youth Day do not allow for the permanent postponement of the restructuring that is so important to Portugal’s security.”

As part of the restructuring of the SEF, the powers of the police will be transferred to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while the current powers in administrative matters regarding foreign citizens will be carried out by the APMA and IRN.

The decision to restructure the SEF was taken by the previous government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, but has already been postponed twice.