European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Magnus Brunner has urged EU member states to eliminate airport queues caused by the Entry/Exit System (EES) before the Christmas travel period, after waits of up to five hours were reported at Brussels Airport. The pressure places responsibility for smoother processing on national authorities as the biometric border programme handles rising passenger volumes.
Brunner argued that member states had sufficient time to prepare and that the system must function effectively because it is a security measure. The EES records fingerprints and facial images from non-EU nationals entering or leaving the Schengen area and became fully operational at external borders on 10 April 2026, following a progressive rollout that began in October 2025.
Belgium’s Interior Ministry rejected the suggestion that staffing alone caused the disruption. Police fully staff all 12 arrivals workstations, while Brussels Airport’s infrastructure can process about 500 to 600 non-Schengen passengers per hour. On peak mornings, however, nearly 3,500 such passengers may arrive between 06:00 and 10:00.
The airport is testing additional e-gates and pre-registration kiosks, training more police officers and assessing whether further infrastructure is required. The measures are intended to increase throughput before the seasonal surge, while implementation remains uneven at some locations despite the system’s full operational status across the Schengen area.