EU & Brexit Bunker

[Psamathe]

Who coud have predicted that the EU wouldn't grab the chance of the UK cherrypicking?

View attachment 15291

Weird that however many times EU says "No cherrypicking" UK just doesn't hear, doesn't listen and/or just thinks they can cherrypick.

 

[briantrumpet]

Yay, yet another #brexitbonus !!

 

[Dorset Boy]

EU's flagship EES system has to be suspended yet again. This time at Dover due to 5 hour queues.
It's a complete and under disaster - this is far from a one off, and is being suspended left right and centre.

 

[Psamathe]

EU's flagship EES system has to be suspended yet again. This time at Dover due to 5 hour queues.
It's a complete and under disaster - this is far from a one off, and is being suspended left right and centre.

Or it's teething issues in the toll-out of a massive system.

Over time it will be sorted and run smoothly.

 

[briantrumpet]

Or it's teething issues in the toll-out of a massive system.

Over time it will be sorted and run smoothly.

Obviously there are never big queues at Dover on the summer bank holiday weekend.

That said, I'm quite sure it could have been handled better, but I'd guess the first year will be the worst. I'm hoping that I'll get mine done in a rather more orderly fashion via Eurostar in July, as they've got an interest in getting everyone on the trains they've booked in for, and you can't get into the biometric booths until you've checked in at the entry gate at St Pancras.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Or it's teething issues in the toll-out of a massive system.

Over time it will be sorted and run smoothly.

This has been a disaster for months - it is not joined up, massive queues across airports in Europe. A number of countries have suspended it for the summer because it simply doesn't work properly and is unlikely to ever work. They had already delayed it's implementation by about a year.

 

[briantrumpet]

This has been a disaster for months - it is not joined up, massive queues across airports in Europe. A number of countries have suspended it for the summer because it simply doesn't work properly and is unlikely to ever work. They had already delayed it's implementation by about a year.

Yeah, that's all fair. It would have been better if they had somehow had terminals at (say) local council offices in the UK where you could register at any time, rather than all in one massive go at airports (on arrival) or at ports on departure. I get the feeling that after two or three delays at turning the system on, because they knew it was going to be a problem, they eventually said "Oh putain!" and decided to switch it on anyway rather than admit defeat and have another 12-month delay. Even the aumtumn would have been better, which was an initial proposal... but in 2025, I think.

Having watched Europeans do their fingerprints at Geneva on normal passport control, some having to have several goes to get their fingerprints to register, and just the facial ones at CdG rejecting about one in five who have to go through the manual booths, I'm not entirely surprised.

 

[Pblakeney]

I thought Brits were all in favour of tighter border controls?

 

[C R]

I thought Brits were all in favour of tighter border controls?

As long as the controls apply to others.

 

[Pblakeney]

As long as the controls apply to others.

Similar to taxes then.

 

[BoldonLad]

I thought Brits were all in favour of tighter border controls?

They are……. for foreigners

 

[rakkor]

This has been a disaster for months - it is not joined up, massive queues across airports in Europe. A number of countries have suspended it for the summer because it simply doesn't work properly and is unlikely to ever work. They had already delayed it's implementation by about a year.

We flew into Barcelona for a cruise at the beginning of the month and immigration went reasonably well, apart from minor hysterics from my wife who couldn't read the process instructions because she had to remove her glasses. The real problems started the next day when we arrived at the cruise terminal to board and all the passengers that had embarked in Southampton took hours to disembark because the whole system was playing up and didn't work properly. It really affected us on the return flight where there were massive queues at El Prat airport we were lucky and ended up in a middling queue which took about 45 minutes to process, all manual, but for one queue all the machines they were sent to had red X's on them and they were being manually processed by either a single or possibly second border official.

 

[Psamathe]

This has been a disaster for months - it is not joined up, massive queues across airports in Europe. A number of countries have suspended it for the summer because it simply doesn't work properly and is unlikely to ever work. They had already delayed it's implementation by about a year.

But also, UK citizens have no rights to get a Schengen Visa. No reason for EU to make it quick and easy at their expense. UK chose to leave the organisation so why should they be paying to make our lives easier?

Even with a few hours wait at a port or airport it's still massively easier and cheaper than getting visas to many countries around the world and the visa issues is a lot less restrictive than for many countries around the world.

We (UK) chose to leave system that made things really easy. Our choice so we bear the consequences.

 

[briantrumpet]

But also, UK citizens have no rights to get a Schengen Visa. No reason for EU to make it quick and easy at their expense. UK chose to leave the organisation so why should they be paying to make our lives easier?

Even with a few hours wait at a port or airport it's still massively easier and cheaper than getting visas to many countries around the world and the visa issues is a lot less restrictive than for many countries around the world.

We (UK) chose to leave system that made things really easy. Our choice so we bear the consequences.

Both things can be true. But from their POV, I can see why they might not want to invest hugely in capacity in the first couple of years when the biggest pressure will be, when it should go back to something vaguely normal once the initial rush has subsided. But that doesn't mean to say it couldn't have been better handled, in IT or timeline terms.

I remember during the pandemic that Shimano got quite a lot of stick for not increasing their production capacity to meet the massive spike in demand. Well, seems like that was a good call, as the market is now smaller than it was even before the pandemic, I think.

 

[Psamathe]

But also, UK citizens have no rights to get a Schengen Visa. No reason for EU to make it quick and easy at their expense. UK chose to leave the organisation so why should they be paying to make our lives easier?
...

Both things can be true. But from their POV, I can see why they might not want to invest hugely in capacity in the first couple of years when the biggest pressure will be, when it should go back to something vaguely normal once the initial rush has subsided. But that doesn't mean to say it couldn't have been better handled, in IT or timeline terms.

Also, might be in their economic interests to have a slick easy system rather than ongoing "massive delays" headlines pushing holidaymakers to look elsewhere as that tourism helps their economies. But not for us (in the UK) to tell them (in the EU) what is and is not in their interests.