Government to complain to European Commission about latest pedestrian border queues

 

The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Joseph Garcia, will be complaining to the European Commission about the latest pedestrian queues caused by Spain’s new electronic gates. Last week electronic passport readers were introduced at the frontier and this has been causing delays.

With Spanish authorities testing the new security equipment at the frontier, during peak queuing times, pedestrian queues built up to an hour waiting time on Monday morning.

The new electronic gates are part of Spain’s commitment to reduce queues following the European Commission’s recommendations last year. Pedestrians are requested to scan EU Compliant electronic passports or ID cards, their fingerprints, and use face recognition technology.

According to a Number Six press release, the manner in which the Spanish Government is implementing its new system seems to be designed to cause as much disruption as possible.

Last Thursday saw the worst pedestrian queues so far this summer, with tailbacks reaching back to the former airport terminal in scorching temperatures.