{"text":[[{"start":8.55,"text":"With great fanfare, the EU last year launched what it described as the “most modern system in the world” to police its borders — a smart electronic frontier to track travellers, help curb immigration and monitor criminals."}],[{"start":23.4,"text":"After a decade’s preparation, “member states are ready now”, Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for home affairs, promised at the time."}],[{"start":31.95,"text":"They were not. A year later, the so-called entry/exit system, or EES, has thrown many travellers’ arrivals in the EU into confusion, with airport operators warning of severe delays as the summer holidays begin."}],[{"start":44.75,"text":"Officials at Rome’s two airports have talked of a “disaster” if rules are not relaxed. Some Greek islands have already scaled back checks to shorten queues. "}],[{"start":55.15,"text":"“It is unacceptable if customers are made to wait in border queues, because frankly they’ve had since 2017 to prepare for this,” easyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis told reporters recently. “It’s really inexcusable.”"}],[{"start":69.15,"text":"The EES, which entails collecting personal information, a photograph and fingerprints from passengers arriving from outside the bloc instead of simply stamping their passports, was conceived to give the EU greater control over its external borders. "}],[{"start":84.10000000000001,"text":"While the US and China have long had digital security checks on entry, Europe’s system was a mishmash of 27 countries’ mostly manual controls. Free movement inside the Schengen area, which includes most EU countries and others such as Norway and Iceland, meant that people entering one nation with a valid visa could exit through another after it had expired without being detected. Those who constituted a potential security threat could be hard to trace."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":112.4,"text":"Nine months after the new system’s rollout began last October, the European Commission maintains that the EES is working, saying it has prevented some 43,700 people entering the Schengen area, including more than 1,100 considered a threat to internal security."}],[{"start":130.15,"text":"But many operators of the continent’s airports, where most of the checks take place, tell a different story. They speak of long queues, flight disruption and chaos that will only get worse as the region enters the busy holiday period."}],[{"start":144.5,"text":"“It is clear that EES is still not ready for peak summer volumes,” says Ryanair’s operations chief, Neal McMahon. “Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer.” "}],[{"start":161.7,"text":"The dispute has exposed the tension between the EU’s drive to police its borders and the economic heft of Europe’s flourishing tourism industry, which relies on visitors from the US and Britain, both non-EU countries whose citizens now face increased delays. "}],[{"start":178.25,"text":"From its inception almost two decades ago, the scheme has been beset by delays. It was first floated by the Commission in 2008 in response to “challenges posed by 21st-century travel and movement of people”, and given the green light by member states and the European parliament in 2017."}],[{"start":196.5,"text":"The plan was to link immigration and police databases with a central system tracking travellers’ movements, allowing the authorities to control borders and trace criminals while protecting the bloc’s cherished free internal movement."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":209.8,"text":"The EES was originally set to launch in 2022, but following procurement problems, IT glitches and wrangling between member states, the Commission in 2024 proposed a phased launch, setting October 2025 for the start."}],[{"start":225.05,"text":"Even now, the promise of smooth automated processing in around a minute per traveller is far from the reality confronted by travellers across the continent."}],[{"start":235,"text":"“We have been telling them this would happen,” says Olivier Jankovec, the head of airports group ACI Europe. “They approached the project just in terms of security and the [performance indicators of] getting people registered. But from the start they ignored the operational implications.” "}],[{"start":250.8,"text":"Handwritten notices and near-empty planes"}],[{"start":254.3,"text":"The problems began almost as soon as the system was switched on fully in April. Within days, border police in Italy complained of “interminable” queues."}],[{"start":264.90000000000003,"text":"Some kiosks were switched off after they became too sweaty to register fingerprints."}],[{"start":269.75000000000006,"text":"Others have never worked: at the Eurostar terminal in London’s St Pancras International — where passengers pass through French border control prior to boarding trains — the station owners demolished part of a coffee shop to create a processing area. Yet months after the system’s launch, many of the machines are still in their original wrapping. A computer bug, which has also affected French airports and the Eurotunnel at Folkestone, means they cannot transfer data to the French border authority that oversees the system. Today, the kiosks sit in darkness behind hoarding, awaiting a long-promised software fix."}],[{"start":306.70000000000005,"text":"Part of the issue is that member states decided to retain national software systems and connect them to the central IT platform, and also wanted to procure the hardware themselves. This has resulted in a technological patchwork, despite the goal of harmonising border controls."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":323.85,"text":"“This is always the difficulty within the European Union — to manage and to deal with 27 national organisations,” says Virginie Jacob, an adviser at the European Policy Centre, a think-tank. “This is not the case for the US and China. They have one country; they can implement a system at the same scale and the same way everywhere.”"}],[{"start":344.75,"text":"Snaking queues have led to disruption and frustration, as passengers who dutifully arrive two hours before their flight find themselves still being processed as their departure time edges nearer. "}],[{"start":355.5,"text":"On one British Airways flight, the captain held up a handwritten notice from the cockpit reassuring passengers scampering along the air bridge that the plane would wait for them. "}],[{"start":367.7,"text":"Others have not been so lucky. At Milan’s Linate airport, easyJet held a flight back for close to an hour to let passengers clear the system before eventually departing with just 34 of its 156 ticketed passengers on board."}],[{"start":382.8,"text":"Waiting longer would have meant its crew, whose working hours are capped under EU safety rules, would have exceeded their legal limit, forcing the whole aircraft to disembark. "}],[{"start":392.2,"text":"The scene has been replicated across Europe; one Ryanair flight from Athens left with 79 passengers still inside the terminal. But if airlines hold planes until all passengers have boarded, they risk knock-on delays and a legal obligation to compensate passengers. "}],[{"start":408.3,"text":"Delays are also hard to predict. No sooner has a surge at one airport been dealt with than another develops elsewhere. Airlines, juggling tightly co-ordinated schedules designed to keep planes in the air and making money, are left scrambling as they try to keep their network running smoothly."}],[{"start":425.25,"text":"One airline says delays directly linked to border-processing issues have risen by a third. “It’s like whack-a-mole,” says an executive at another."}],[{"start":433.1,"text":"Efforts to shift check-in times earlier have been frustrated by bottlenecks at airports. When British Airways tried to free up more time for passengers to check in, it was told that no desks were available as another airline needed them."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":445.5,"text":"Airlines also grumble that airports and border forces should not have been caught unawares, given that flights are scheduled a year in advance. “Corfu has always been big in the summer with the British,” adds one airline industry insider. “This should not come as a surprise.” "}],[{"start":461.9,"text":"Disruption so far has been restricted to what one industry executive describes as “pockets”. But once schools break up in the UK, an annual migration to the continent that stretches Europe’s airports even in normal years will begin. "}],[{"start":477.29999999999995,"text":"Summer is the airline industry’s harvest season, when packed planes generate the profits that compensate for lossmaking off-season travel. Some carriers, such as Greece’s Aegean, double their capacity during these months as islands that attract a handful of tourists in winter receive millions during July. "}],[{"start":496.54999999999995,"text":"Delays of even 10 minutes to a flight can spell financial trouble. If the summer is a write-off then the industry, already dealing with high jet fuel prices because of conflict in the Middle East, will be unable to build up the financial buffer it needs to carry it through leaner winter months. That could lead to job cuts and potentially push weaker players closer to collapse."}],[{"start":518.65,"text":"For now, many airlines are sticking to their plans. “We’re not modifying schedules and nor should we have to,” says an airline executive. “It’s not like this has come as a surprise.” "}],[{"start":528.55,"text":"John Strickland, an aviation analyst, argues the problem is all the harder to deal with because the new system “relies on individual people making discretionary decisions in a fairly random way at different airports on different days . . . There’s not a consistent fallback position.” "}],[{"start":543.75,"text":"An avid traveller, he has been through the EES system almost a dozen times since its rollout — and been forced to queue on each occasion."}],[{"start":552.95,"text":"Some say the system was not adequately tested first. “They need to take it offline, test it properly and only reintroduce it when it works at scale,” says another airline executive. “They just jumped into it with two feet.” "}],[{"start":564.35,"text":"The project has been beset by technical difficulties for years. The €142mn contract to develop the central computer system was won by the Belgian arm of France’s IT giant Atos, together with IBM Belgium and Italian defence contractor Leonardo. But the consortium repeatedly missed deadlines to deliver on the project and faced fines, and the cost ballooned to €212mn."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":590.65,"text":"The hope now is that the summer will be saved by common sense. “It’s completely in the gift of the European member states to smooth this through,” said easyJet’s Jarvis."}],[{"start":601.5,"text":"“They have got the means to avoid the queues overrunning by opening up passport desks that are well established and just sampling passports during this transition.”"}],[{"start":609.75,"text":"He added: “You’ve seen Greece saying they are going to suspend it, and I would encourage every other member state to just monitor the queues. By all means run the EES programme midweek, in quieter periods, but if you’re heading for a [busy period], clearly use common sense and use the flexibility given to you.” "}],[{"start":627.25,"text":"‘A year or two’"}],[{"start":628.7,"text":"The European Commission maintains the system is working well overall and that the benefits outweigh “limited” disruptions, with it already registering more than 108mn entries and exits since October."}],[{"start":641.5,"text":"One EU official says that, after the system was launched, Belgian authorities identified dozens of cases of fake identities, where people with the same biometric information tried to register under different names. Further checks revealed that they were subject to entry bans in various other Schengen states. "}],[{"start":659.35,"text":"The official says this was an example of the system identifying a pattern of people trying to enter under fake names."}],[{"start":667.2,"text":"But on Friday, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that there was “still quite a lot of work to do” on the system, adding: “We are working with the member states on the technical problems.”"}],[{"start":678.5500000000001,"text":"Officials have called a meeting with airport executives next week to discuss their woes."}],[{"start":684.95,"text":"To streamline checks, some European countries have stopped recording people’s photos or fingerprints at busy times. "}],[{"start":692.45,"text":"“This measure allows for a reduction in processing time per passenger when circumstances absolutely require it,” the Belgian police say."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":700.7,"text":"But member states are already concerned about what will happen after September, when this workaround is due to end. Several have called for the option of suspending biometric checks to be extended, according to EU officials."}],[{"start":713.5,"text":"Airports and airlines also want the date to be pushed back, fearful the system will fall over again during the Christmas travel rush. "}],[{"start":722.1,"text":"“The system is currently being held together by flexibilities,” one airline says. “But these are often not activated quickly enough.”"}],[{"start":730.75,"text":"Proponents of the EES say that it will eventually be faster than previous national checks and the routine of stamping passports."}],[{"start":738.05,"text":"“It will take time, a year or two, because the first time you do this the procedure takes longer because you register,” says Chris Borowski, a spokesperson for Frontex, the EU border agency. “Once more and more people start going through this, the second time is much quicker, and it smooths out after a while.”"}],[{"start":756.25,"text":"Airlines understand the tension. But they also want to stop the continent’s borders grinding to a halt. "}],[{"start":762.7,"text":"“The rollout must match the capacity,” says Ourania Georgoutsakou, head of the industry group Airlines 4 Europe. “Airlines want the EES to be successful.”"}],[{"start":772.6500000000001,"text":"Additional reporting by Andy Bounds and Amy Kazmin"}],[{"start":782.95,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783143066_6191.mp3"}