Nine EU States Delay EU Border Checks, and Puglia's Airports Breathe Out

Nine European Union countries have asked for more time to bring in the bloc's new Entry/Exit System, the Guardian reported on Monday, with France, Greece, Portugal and Italy among the governments seeking a delay at busy airports. The EES is meant to replace passport stamping for non-EU visitors with biometric registration at the border, recording fingerprints and facial images on a shared database.

The request is the latest postponement for a system that has already slipped several times. Holiday hotspots have argued that the infrastructure and staffing needed at peak-season terminals are not yet in place, and that queues would fall on travellers rather than on the agencies building the system.

For Puglia the calendar matters more than the principle. Bari and Brindisi take a large share of their foreign arrivals from the United Kingdom, the United States and the Western Balkans, and both airports handle summer traffic well above their winter baseline.