Nine EU States Delay EES Border Checks as Alpine Crossings Wait

Nine European Union countries have further delayed the introduction of the Entry/Exit System, the biometric border regime meant to register non-EU travellers, according to the Guardian. France, Greece, Portugal and Italy are among the governments that asked for more time to install the equipment at busy airports and land crossings.

The EES replaces manual passport stamping with fingerprint and facial-image registration for short-stay visitors from outside the bloc. Its rollout has already slipped more than once, and the latest postponement extends the uncertainty for the transport operators and border authorities who must build the infrastructure.

For the Valle d'Aosta, the practical question sits at Mont Blanc and the Great St Bernard, the two road corridors that carry the region's cross-border traffic into France and Switzerland. Those are among the frontiers where the new system will eventually have to function.