European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged on July 3 that the EU's new digital border system still has unresolved technical problems, telling reporters in Cork, Ireland that "there's still quite a lot of work to do to have these technical issues solved together with the member states." It is the first time the Commission's top official has personally conceded difficulties with the Entry/Exit System (EES), which has been blamed for waits of up to five hours at some Schengen external borders. The admission comes two days after Europe's airport and airline associations formally asked Brussels to let border authorities suspend EES checks during the July–August travel peak, and days before a Commission meeting with member states on July 7 to assess the situation.
Background
The EES replaced passport stamping at the external borders of the Schengen area with biometric registration — fingerprints and a facial image — for non-EU visitors on short stays, including travellers from the UK and the United States. It launched progressively in October 2025 and became fully mandatory on April 10, 2026. Since launch, the system has processed roughly 110 million border crossings, refused entry to about 44,000 people, and flagged several hundred security risks — the Commission has cited more than 700 identifications, while an Irish minister put the figure at around 1,000. On July 1, airport association ACI Europe, Airlines for Europe and IATA sent an open letter to the Commission warning that first-time registrations were creating queues, missed connections and flight delays, and asking for flexibility to suspend checks when crossings become congested. Around 40 million additional passengers are expected across EU airports in July and August.
What von der Leyen said
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin, von der Leyen said the Commission is "working with the member states [so] that the technical problems are being solved," and acknowledged the remaining workload. She defended the system's purpose, noting it "did not change the legal frame about rules of entering and exiting the EU; it just creates transparency" about compliance — a reference to the fact that the 90-days-in-180 short-stay limit existed long before the EES began enforcing it digitally. She made no commitment to the industry's suspension request, and the Commission maintains that a registration takes about 70 seconds on average once a traveller reaches a kiosk or booth.
Who it affects
Anyone without an EU or Schengen-country passport who crosses a Schengen external border this summer is in scope: tourists, business travellers, and people scouting a destination ahead of a move. First-time entrants face the full biometric registration, which is where the delays concentrate; returning travellers whose data is already on file are typically processed faster. The system operates at the external borders of the Schengen area — Ireland and Cyprus do not operate it. A family flying into Alicante in early August for a house-hunting trip, or a UK-based worker making a first visit to a new employer in Amsterdam, should expect the border to take meaningfully longer than it did before April.
What this means in practice
Build extra time into any summer arrival at a Schengen external border — especially for first entries, tight onward connections, and peak weekend slots. Nothing about the underlying rules has changed: the 90/180-day short-stay limit applies exactly as before, and the EES simply records entries and exits digitally instead of by stamp. If you are planning multiple trips before or during a move, our Schengen 90/180 calculator at /tools/schengen shows how much stay allowance a given itinerary uses. Travellers with a residence permit or long-stay visa for a Schengen country are outside the EES's short-stay tracking, but should still expect the same queues at the booth.
What happens next
The European Commission meets member states and industry representatives on July 7, 2026 to assess the EES situation and discuss improvements. The industry's request — flexibility to suspend checks during peak congestion — is on the table, but no decision has been announced.
What is not yet confirmed
The Commission has not published an official transcript of the Cork remarks, and reported figures for security-risk identifications vary between 700 and roughly 1,000. Whether Brussels will permit any suspension of EES checks this summer remains undecided.
Key Takeaway
The Commission now openly admits the EES has technical problems, but the checks stay in place for the summer peak — plan extra time at Schengen borders, especially on a first entry.