More than 66 million non-EU nationals have been registered upon entry or exit from the European Union since the gradual launch of the new digital border control system last October, according to data released on Monday by the European Commission. Around 32,000 people have been denied entry through this mechanism.
The European Entry/Exit System (EES), fully deployed across the Schengen Area, is designed to enhance border security and manage mobility risks. "When a new system starts up, 'there are always things to improve'," admitted Interior spokesperson Markus Lammert during a Brussels press briefing, though he declined to specify which countries may lag behind in implementation. He confirmed that Brussels is engaging with "a couple of countries" yet to complete the rollout.
According to the Commission, the system has enabled authorities to identify "close to 800 individuals who posed a security risk" for the bloc. "To keep Schengen open and secure, we must modernise how we manage mobility and security risks," said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's Vice-President responsible for Security, in an official statement. "We are making advances in digitalisation and interoperability of large-scale IT systems."
These figures were published alongside the Commission’s fifth report assessing the state of the Schengen border-free zone, hailed as one of the EU’s most tangible and valuable achievements which "continues to demonstrate resilience."
However, the report avoids direct criticism of the half-dozen Schengen countries—including France, Germany and Austria—that maintain continuous systematic internal border checks, some for over a decade. EU services note that temporary reintroduction of such controls is permitted under EU law but only "temporarily and under strict conditions."
In this context, Lammert highlighted that the Commission keeps "close dialogue" with Member States applying near-permanent strengthened checks to "stress the need to minimise distortions" such measures cause, particularly for daily cross-border workers, and points out that "there are more effective alternatives."