A senior European Commission official expressed “regret” at last week’s Global Business Travel Association/VDR European conference in Vienna for lengthy passenger queues caused by its new visitor Entry-Exit System at airports. But Beate Gminder, director-general of migration and home affairs (DG Home) blamed member states for poor preparation and said there would be no long-term suspension of the roll-out following a partial suspension that was permitted during the summer.
EU director-general of migration and home affairs Beate Gminder
EES requires the collection of biometric data, in the form of facial image scans and fingerprints, from passport holders of third countries when entering the Schengen Area through any of the 29 countries it comprises. Gminder said that since a soft launch in October 2025 and full implementation (other than selective partial summer season suspensions) in April 2026, member states have registered 232 million entries and exits, with almost 80,000 refusals of entry. Nearly 2,000 individuals considered to represent a threat have been registered in the system.
“We do see long queues happening at some airports and we do regret that,” Gminder told the conference. “With ten years’ preparation people thought this would be a big bang roll-out, and then about a year ago we realised, ‘oh, that’s not going to work.’ So we changed the law, and changing the law at EU level never goes fast, but we managed in six months to get [a partial suspension] through all the EU governments.
“Over this summer we saw suspension periods for the Entry-Exit, and I think that helped. A lot of you are asking to have this on a permanent level. But if you have internal security objectives, and if you have results like I have just given you, you will not convince a parliament and governments to take that risk for the purpose of suspending what should be a well-planned operation.”
Gminder made her remarks in response to results displayed by GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang of a survey of 274 of the association’s buyer members conducted in September. Although 43 per cent reported no issues among their travellers, 25 per cent of travel managers said travellers were reporting longer processing times, 23 per cent long queues and congestion, and 14 per cent missed connections or disruptions.
In a separate breakout session at the conference, one travel manager revealed his company is recommending to travellers that they allow double the official minimum connecting time for transfers within the Schengen Area.
“Of course I understand that it may not always feel like a success if your clients have been waiting in a queue at border control or feeling anxious about a flight connection,” said Gminder. “For a corporate executive connecting through a European hub, delays disrupt itineraries and can be costly for business.
“Despite the long lead time of over ten years, it is clear that in some countries airports are not yet that well prepared. This is why we are taking the uneven implementation across the European Union very seriously. We are providing both encouragement and support to ensure the system is functioning properly everywhere.
“We do give extra funding to governments but they have to recruit the people and train them, and the European funding always goes to 70 per cent. Thirty per cent has to be chipped in by the national government,” said Gminder.
The DG Home boss also pointed to technology problems. “We have central software for the Entry/Exit but every country has developed its own national software to connect to it and some of these software types are not working,” she said.
Gminder urged more member states to introduce the EU’s Travel to Europe app, which allows visitors to pre-register their passport data and facial image before reaching their border crossing. Currently, only Sweden has introduced the app fully.