Easing EU Border Friction: There Will Be ‘Flexibility,’ Official Says

Photo Caption: Maja Bakran Marcich, deputy director-general for mobility and transport at the European Commission A senior European Commission official signaled Thursday that further flexibility may be coming for the EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System (EES). Her remarks came a month after Brussels declined to extend member states’ emergency power to ease checks — and days after airlines and airports asked for it back. “There will be some further flexibility,” said Maja Bakran Marcich, deputy director-general for mobility and transport at the European Commission, speaking at Skift’s Transatlantic Summit in Dublin. Since April, non-EU visitors entering most of Europe have had to register their fingerprints and a facial scan at the border under EES, which takes far longer than the old passport stamp and has led to queues of several hours at some airports. Until September, member states could temporarily skip the biometric step when lines got too long, but that safety valve has now expired. Bakran