“For several years now, the Commission has been announcing the introduction of the Entry/Exit System (EES) as a tool to improve identity verification at the EU’s external borders. The collection of biometric data and the digital registration of all entries and exits by third-country nationals is long overdue in order to ensure effective border controls, prevent multiple identities, and combat illegal migration more effectively.
But instead of taking decisive action, the Commission has repeatedly postponed the system’s implementation for years—most recently in December 2024, shifting the responsibility onto the member states, even though the original launch had been planned for 2020.
In the meantime, millions of migrants have entered illegally without their identities being thoroughly checked or registered. This has created a massive security gap that the EU has allowed to grow over the years—at the expense not only of the European population but also of our security, our values, and our future.
The catastrophic consequences of these delays reveal both an organizational failure—highlighted by the awarding of the contract to IT company Atos, formerly led by Commissioner Thierry Breton and only moderately successful in execution—and a lack of political will to address the issue of illegal mass migration.”
