Britons will not have to face potentially lengthy delays on trips to Greece caused by new security checks this summer, the country's tourism minister has confirmed. A new EU biometric border control system has caused chaos at some airports, with furious passengers missing flights as a result.
But Olga Kefalogianni has now said UK holidaymakers will not be 'burdened' by the bureaucratic procedures whether entering or leaving the country during the busy summer season. Action was being taken to make sure frontier checks would take 'less than a couple of minutes', she said.
'We really want our travellers to have the best experience and we understand that any inconvenience getting into Greece or exiting would cause frustration,' she added. 'We really don't want anyone to have to face a lot of bureaucracy, so we have managed to facilitate the system in order for British citizens to not have any burden, especially at the airports. So, it's just a very easy way to come in and exit the country.'
Ms Kefalogianni admitted at the 'beginning of the season we faced some delays in the whole process at the airports'. The system, which was first introduced in October last year and was meant to become fully operational on April 10, requires non-EU travellers to register their biometric information when they enter or leave the Schengen zone. This involves facial recognition checks and fingerprint scans the first time they go through border control and one of those checked during subsequent crossings, but this has caused long queues.
More than 100 people missed an EasyJet flight to Manchester from Milan's Linate airport last month, with the airline criticising the 'unacceptable' delays. Similar problems at Milan Bergamo airport on a Ryanair flight also to Manchester led to people failing to get to their seats in time.
EU rules allow 'entry-exit system' or EES checks to be suspended briefly if airports become congested but blanket exemptions for citizens of a particular country are not permitted. Greece suspended the biometric checks on British citizens back in April after lengthy delays at Corfu airport but Ms Kefalogianni insisted this did not breach the rules.
'What we're doing is not actually an exemption. It's just that we have made sure that we facilitate the procedure in a way that means visitors are not burdened,' she added. The EU has said it has been liaising with Greece to 'clarify the situation'.
Data scientist Dr Nick Brown, who has combed through the EU legislation, told the Independent: 'Presumably, the Commission has other fish to fry right now but I assume they will not let one EU country making exceptions for the citizens of a non-EU country last for more than one season.'
British holidaymakers are an important source of income to Greece, with almost five million visiting the mainland and islands last year, up 7 per cent year on the previous 12 months. Last week, Italy and Portugal said they would not suspend digital checks for Britons, though Portugal has reverted to standard passport checks at Lisbon, Porto and Faro.
