Published on •Updated
As the holiday season peaks, the grand vision of smart EU borders has collided with a physical breakdown, risking the travel plans of millions. Welcome to the premium queuing experience.
The automated network is now live across 29 European nations. And since the rollout, the digital net caught 40,000 border refusals and identified 1,000 security risks. To Brussels, these figures prove the database works by instantly flagging visa overstayers and fake documents.
But here goes a problem: biometric collection is triggering a systemic operational crisis. Industry lobbies report waiting times at border control reaching up to five hours during peak periods warn these delays put 41 million arrivals and 45 billion dollars of tourist spending at risk.
This bottleneck hits just as European hubs prepare to handle 40 million more passengers than they did in May and June.
So who is to blame for the chaos? It looks like national capitals failed to prepare. Many airports lack border guards, digital kiosks and basic infrastructure.
The rollout is a fragmented mess because some capitals bought the equipment while others struggled to do so.
Worst of all, the EU system forces guards to collect fingerprints from every first-time arrival and that creates an instant dead-stop at the gate.
The European border agency Frontex admits the chaotic biometric registration could take up two years to stabilise. But look at the bright side: you now have roughly seven hundred days to practice your queuing technique – and enough time to learn a local language.
Watch the Euronews video in the player above for the full story.