The Agile Crossing System (SPA) of the border of Beni-Enza, which will serve for the frequent passenger system between Melilla and Morocco, “will mean more security but also greater fluidity”.
The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, in an interview granted to Popular Televisión, explained that this new system will provide greater and better control in the transit between both countries and that it will become a reality as soon as possible, since its implementation depends exclusively on Spain.
“The works have already finished, we have already implanted the cabins inside the buildings”, he has revealed, and he has pointed out that it has been an important work that has meant removing the tools and cabins that existed previously and replacing them “with modern buildings, from the 21st century, implementing a new one in the departure area to Morocco that previously did not exist and also a third building with which the Civil Guard will be able to make the records in vehicles, with an elevator and with state-of-the-art equipment”.
The highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city has stressed that the implementation of the SPA will bring more security but also greater fluidity. “Now when we enter or leave the territory we have to present our documentation, there is a control manually in which the photograph is checked and if it coincides with the person who is going to cross the border, it also gets into a register… and the same thing at the exit,” he said.
However, the implementation of this new system will involve a verification through biometric data. “In the first moment a person will register in this system and, from there, every time they go through the border there will be some machines installed where they will do that recognition automatically,” he explained.
The SPA will automatically alert through its control systems in case the person had any judicial issue or any entry ban.
“Right now we have to do checks, put it in the system, check if there is any entry restriction… after the start of the SPA, it will be done automatically,” he said.
In addition, the SPA will also automatically count who are the people who have entered the territory and have not left, something that until now was difficult to see, since it required the professionals of the State Security Forces and Corps to enter the records to be able to make this type of checks.
“That’s why we talk about greater agility, because we go from having to check everything manually, to having a system that will make you face recognition and, therefore, it will be much more agile and safer,” he said.
European system
The SPA is a system that depends exclusively on Spain and will therefore be operational as soon as possible, but as has already been announced on other occasions, the border will also implement the Entry/Exit System (EES), the large-scale system of the European Union for the automatic monitoring of the border crossing of Member States with third countries.
As the Delegate of the Government explained, precisely because it is a system at European level, Spain cannot implement it unilaterally. “Its implementation depends neither on the Government of Spain, nor much less on the Government Delegation in Melilla, because it is a system that is connected with all the member states and therefore the date has to be the same for everyone, so that it comes into operation at the same time,” he explained.
A system that, in addition to the land borders, such as Beni-Enza, will be implemented in the Ports and Airports of all territories. “It is something very new and very positive that will continue to provide our infrastructures with greater security, greater control and also greater agility,” he said.
With regard to the implementation of this system, the estimated date for its implementation is November of this year, and it will be implemented in all the Member States of Europe at once.