EU EES chaos: Greece suspends checks for Brits, Portugal informally relaxes controls, Ryanair demands suspension until September

The EU Entry/Exit System is generating widespread operational disruption as the peak summer travel season approaches, with Biometric Update reporting on 7 May 2026 that Greece has suspended EES checks for British tourists due to excessive queues, Portugal is informally relaxing checks at airports during peak periods, and Ryanair has written to all 29 participating countries demanding a suspension of the system until September. Croatia confirmed it will maintain EES checks throughout the tourist season. The European Commission has reminded member states that the system has built-in flexibility allowing authorities to pause biometric registration during peak periods for up to 90 days from the April 10 launch, with a further 60-day extension available to cover the end of summer. France has not yet adopted the Travel to Europe pre-registration app, which only Portugal and Sweden have implemented. Poland, which activated EES on 10 April, processed 6.8 million border crossings and issued 9,400 entry refusals in its first four weeks. The operational chaos illustrates the gap between the technical ambition of EU-scale biometric border management and the infrastructure readiness of member state border points.