Portugal and Italy are set to follow Greece in changing passport entry rules, a travel expert has said. New EU border checks came into effect across the Schengen Area this year, meaning Brits have longer wait times moving through airports in certain countries. However, this has caused delays for many passengers, and some have even missed their flights and were left stranded abroad. The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) involves people from external countries, such as the UK, having their fingerprints registered and photographs taken to enter the Schengen Area.
However, travel experts have said its rollout has been chaotic, with passengers facing massive queues as a result. In April, over 100 easyJet passengers stuck in delays at passport desks at Milan Linate airport missed a flight to Manchester. It’s not the only place where long delays have caused stress for both passengers and airport staff. In fact, airports in Greece ditched the new rules for UK holidaymakers until September after huge queues formed.
In Portugal, airports are reportedly waving passengers through if queues get too big, while Italy is expected to follow in Greece’s footsteps and ditch the new system.
According to one travel expert, popular countries like Spain, France and Croatia could do the same. Seamus McCauley, of travel company Holiday Extras, told the Mail: “The rollout has been an utter fiasco. British tourists are worth €3.5billion a year to the Greek economy, and it has rightly decided it will not jeopardise that because EES is not working properly.”
He said that the likelihood of Italy and Portugal making a similar move to Greece seems “certain”. He explained: “After that the whole system could collapse like a house of cards, with Spain, France and Croatia coming to the same conclusion because nobody wants to see their tourist trade go to another country simply to comply with the EU.
“Greece broke ranks and Portugal keeps suspending the rules. Others are almost certain to follow. Something has to give.”
The EU could take Greece to the European Court of Justice for not following the new rules, but travel experts say that is unlikely. Meanwhile, one of Europe’s largest airlines, Ryanair, has called on countries like France, Spain, Italy and Portugal to suspend EES.
“Governments are attempting to roll out a half-baked IT system in the middle of the busiest travel season,” said Ryaniar chief operations officer Neil McMahon.
“Passengers are paying the price, being forced to endure hours-long passport control queues and in some cases missing flights. The solution is simple – governments should suspend EES until September.”
The new travel rules apply to all countries in the Schengen Area, which are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
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