A political row has erupted over the implementation of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) at Malaga Airport.
It comes after Francisco Salado, head of the Costa del Sol’s tourism board (Turismo Costa del Sol) blasted the ‘long queues’ seen in recent weeks as ‘unacceptable’.
Under the EES, anyone from a non-Schengen or ‘third country’ – including the UK – must use biometric scanners upon entering and exiting the EU to keep track of the number of days they have spent in the bloc (ensuring they don’t exceed their 90 in 180 day limit).
As the system is being rolled out (having begun on October 12), Brits and others are using the machines for the first time, and are having to register their fingerprints and face scans, leading to delays when they are up and running at peak times.
However passengers have claimed a lack of officers at passport control during the busiest times, broken machines and airport staff not being properly trained has added to the delays.
In an audio clip sent to press on Monday, Salado called on the central government to solve such problems ‘today, not tomorrow’.
‘Every day that passes is a serious blow to the image of our destination and of our country,’ he said.
Salado is also president of the Malaga Provincial Council, and represents the Partido Popular (PP) – the country’s main opposition party.
He accused the PSOE (Socialist) government of ‘disorganisation, improvisation and a lack of investment’, holding it ‘directly responsible for the chaos’.
He spoke of ‘mistreatment’ of the province, adding that tourism is its main industry, and that the situation is ‘particularly hard to bear during the Christmas holidays’.
According to Salado, around a third of the more than 25 million passengers using Malaga Airport have to go through EES and are encountering ‘an acute shortage of police officers and machines that are out of service’.
Salado directly blamed ministers of the Interior (Fernando Grande-Marlaska) and Transport (Oscar Puente) as ‘responsible for the long waits suffered by travellers’.
‘Policia Nacional officers are overwhelmed, the service needs to be reinforced, and Aena must demand that the Ministry of the Interior put an end to this situation,’ he said.
He blasted ‘a lack of foresight and efficiency on the part of the government’, which he described as ‘yet another affront to Malaga and the Costa del Sol’, as well as ‘a threat to tourism, our main industry’.
‘Even tourism business owners have offered to help as much as they can by providing information to visitors, but their offer has not even been taken into consideration,’ he concluded.
The national Government’s representative in Malaga, Javier Salas, clapped back at Salado’s comments, accusing him of trying to score political points.
Speaking on Tuesday, Salas defended the new system by saying it is still in a testing phase and that it is operating normally.
He told Europa Press that the EES ‘has been undergoing testing since October during specific time slots’, and insisted that, apart from very isolated incidents, no significant problems have been recorded.
The central government’s representative also hit back at Salado, accusing him of ‘sectarianism’ and engaging in political opposition.
Salas noted that the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has increased the number of State Security Forces and Corps personnel in the province by almost 1,000 officers, compared with a loss of nearly 400 agents which, he said, occurred under the previous PP government.
