Nine EU States Delay New Border Checks, and Italy's Airports Wait

Nine European Union countries have further delayed the introduction of the bloc's new Entry/Exit System, the automated border checks that were to register non-EU travellers as they cross into the Schengen area, the Guardian reported. Holiday destinations including France, Greece and Italy are among those asking for more time to install and test the equipment in busy airports.

The Guardian's report centres on the strain the system places on terminals that already process heavy summer traffic. The EES replaces passport stamping with biometric registration — fingerprints and a facial image — taken at first entry and checked on later crossings, a process that adds seconds per traveller and, at peak, minutes per queue.

The delay is the second kind of border story in the foreign coverage this month, and the two pull in opposite directions. Italy and Spain have extended their own tit-for-tat checks at the land frontier for another 15 days, as The Local Italy reported, even as the wider Schengen system postpones its new machinery. One set of controls is being deferred; another is being prolonged by national decision.