Meeting in the European Parliament’s Antall building this afternoon, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) opened a two-hour session devoted to borders and visas. Belgian MEPs Saskia Bricmont (Greens) and Tom Vandenkendelaere (EPP) joined colleagues in quizzing EU Commission officials on the first four months of the Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES), which records biometric data of all non-EU travellers. DG HOME director Henrik Nielsen acknowledged “teething problems” at mid-size airports—including Brussels Airport—where peak-hour queues have occasionally exceeded the Schengen 45-minute target, but said software patches deployed last week had cut transaction times by 18 percent. The committee also received a preview of the Commission’s 2026 Visa-Policy Strategy (COM(2026) 43 final), scheduled for formal presentation tomorrow. Key proposals include a fully digital Schengen-visa portal by late-2027, standardised 48-hour fast-track for legitimate business travellers, and an obligation for member states to decide single-permit applications within 90 days—a rule Belgium is already moving to transpose nationally. A pilot of the digital portal will launch in Belgium, Estonia and Spain next autumn, making Brussels one of three EU test beds for the end-to-end online process. For corporate mobility teams the debate signals tighter performance monitoring: the Commission will publish monthly dashboards comparing member-state EES error rates and visa-processing times. Under-performing states could face infringement proceedings. Belgian officials told the committee they expect to install 30 additional self-service kiosks at Brussels Airport Pier B before the summer rush and are hiring 80 auxiliary staff to assist travellers unfamiliar with the system. The LIBE session closed with rapporteur Birgit Sippel confirming that amendments to extend Regulation (EU) 2021/1232—which underpins the EES—will go to plenary vote in April. If adopted, the extension will keep transitional safeguards (manual stamping fallback, crew exemptions) in place until at least December 2027, giving airports and carriers more time to fine-tune processes.
