Speaking in Cork on 3 July, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended the new Entry/Exit System (EES), telling reporters that the platform “increases transparency” but admitting that Brussels is “working with member states to solve technical problems”. Her remarks come less than 100 days before the EES becomes mandatory at all Italian airports and seaports on 12 October. Italian carriers and airport operators have reported fingerprint-scanner outages and software slowdowns during pilot operations, prompting Ryanair to lobby Rome for a temporary suspension during the summer rush.
![EU Commission Acknowledges Technical Glitches in Schengen Entry/Exit System as Italy Prepares for Peak Travel]()
For travellers and mobility managers looking for practical support ahead of the EES rollout, VisaHQ’s Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) offers real-time regulatory updates, document checklists and expedited visa processing. The service’s alerts help companies track shifting Schengen requirements, while its concierge team can troubleshoot issues such as overstays or ETIAS denials—reducing compliance risk and travel disruption.
Industry sources say average passport-control processing times at Rome-Fiumicino have risen from 22 to 34 seconds per non-EU passenger since the April soft-launch—manageable on normal days, but potentially crippling during the 5 July strike and the August holiday peak. The Commission is deploying “flying squads” of IT specialists and has released an accelerated patch schedule. Italy’s Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has authorised airports to open additional manual booths and to hire 400 seasonal border-police officers. For business travellers, the key takeaway is to build an extra 15–20 minutes into departure timelines until system stability is confirmed. Employers should also remind non-EU assignees that EES overstays will be calculated automatically; a single late exit could jeopardise future Schengen mobility or ETIAS approval. The episode illustrates the growing intersection of technology and mobility compliance: companies must now treat system-downtime risk as seriously as weather or labour unrest when planning cross-border operations.
For travellers and mobility managers looking for practical support ahead of the EES rollout, VisaHQ’s Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) offers real-time regulatory updates, document checklists and expedited visa processing. The service’s alerts help companies track shifting Schengen requirements, while its concierge team can troubleshoot issues such as overstays or ETIAS denials—reducing compliance risk and travel disruption.
Industry sources say average passport-control processing times at Rome-Fiumicino have risen from 22 to 34 seconds per non-EU passenger since the April soft-launch—manageable on normal days, but potentially crippling during the 5 July strike and the August holiday peak. The Commission is deploying “flying squads” of IT specialists and has released an accelerated patch schedule. Italy’s Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has authorised airports to open additional manual booths and to hire 400 seasonal border-police officers. For business travellers, the key takeaway is to build an extra 15–20 minutes into departure timelines until system stability is confirmed. Employers should also remind non-EU assignees that EES overstays will be calculated automatically; a single late exit could jeopardise future Schengen mobility or ETIAS approval. The episode illustrates the growing intersection of technology and mobility compliance: companies must now treat system-downtime risk as seriously as weather or labour unrest when planning cross-border operations.
