Nine EU States Delay New Border Checks, and Tuscany's Autumn Arrivals Wait

Nine European Union countries have asked Brussels for more time to implement the bloc's new Entry/Exit System, the biometric border regime meant to register non-EU visitors, according to the Guardian. France, Greece, Portugal and Italy are among the states seeking the further delay, the paper reported, citing the pressure the changes place on busy airports at the height of the travel season.

The EES replaces passport stamping for short-stay visitors from outside the EU with fingerprint and facial-image registration at the point of entry. The Guardian's report frames the delay as a plea from tourism-dependent states that fear queues at terminals already stretched in summer. For a country whose arrivals calendar now runs well past September, the practical question is not the principle of the system but the throughput of the airports that receive it.