At a session of the LIBE Committee in Brussels on the morning of 24 February 2026, MEPs held the first public stock-take of how the EU’s new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) is bedding in after four months of phased implementation. Henrik Nielsen, DG HOME’s Director for Schengen, Borders and Visa, conceded that several high-throughput airports – including Brussels – are still processing fewer than 50 % of third-country passengers through self-service kiosks. eu-LISA chief Tillmann Keber attributed the bottlenecks to hardware integration issues and a shortage of trained border officers. Belgium’s Federal Police confirmed that 75 additional "traveller assistance agents" will be recruited before the summer peak, funded partly by Brussels Airport Company’s €24 million border-upgrade budget. Business-travel associations pressed lawmakers to ensure that the planned “pre-enrolment” mobile app is operational by September, when the Brussels motor show and major EU conferences return. Without remote pre-capture of facial and fingerprint data, queue times for conference delegations could stretch beyond 45 minutes at morning peaks. The Commission promised to publish unified performance dashboards by airport from April and to explore temporary derogations for group arrivals – a measure Belgian event organisers have demanded. MEPs insisted that any derogation must still respect the 90-day short-stay rule and not undermine Schengen security gains. For corporate mobility managers, the hearing underlines the need to brief non-EU visitors well ahead of travel: ensure passports have at least two blank pages for contingency manual stamping, build in longer connection times at Brussels, and monitor forthcoming eu-LISA guidance on bulk pre-enrolment for trade-fair groups.
