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UK officials have told France to “prioritise flow” during the peak summer holiday period, a minister said, amid growing concerns over long delays.
The new EU border checks, EES, were rolled out fully in April and involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU.
Home Office minister Alex Norris told the Commons that the Government “push very heavily” for the movement of people to be given precedence over compliance with the Entry Exit System (EES).
The EU has rejected calls from airline and airport groups to suspend EES until September over fears that millions of people will face delays during summer holidays.
Mr Norris also appeared to rule out a full suspension of the entry/exit system (EES), arguing it would not be “deliverable”.
EES, rolled out fully in April, involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU.
For most UK travellers, the process is done at foreign airports, but it is also carried out at the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel’s Folkestone terminal and London St Pancras railway station.
Mr Norris said: “When you get to peak volume … the volumes that are coming shortly, it fundamentally comes down to a question of a prioritisation of flow or prioritisation of compliance with the scheme itself.
“We push very heavily, we will do every day between now and then… to make sure that the French use flexibilities available to prioritise flow.”
Pressed on whether he would support a full suspension of EES, he later added: “I would not set that as the goal and the aspiration, because I don’t believe that’s deliverable.”
Earlier this week The EU admitted there is “still quite a lot of work to do” to solve issues with the entry/exit system.
Ursula von der Leye was asked at a press conference in Cork with Irish premier Micheál Martin why “thousands, if not millions, of people” have been stuck in queues at borders.
She said the EES, which was fully rolled out in April, “did not change the legal frame about rules of entering and exiting the European Union, it just creates transparency about abiding to the rules that are set for entering or exiting the European Union”.
She added the EU is working with member states to solve technical problems but conceded: “There’s still quite a lot of work to do to have these technical issues solved together with the member states.”