No immediate change at Gib border as Spain prepares for EES roll-out

Spain will focus on airports during the first phase of its implementation of the EU’s new automated border control system, meaning there will be no change at its border with Gibraltar for now.

The Entry/Exit System [EES] will be rolled out across the EU as from October 12, with full implementation at all EU external borders required by April 2016.

The Entry Exit System [EES] will require non-EU nationals to register their biometric data, which will be checked when crossing into the Schengen area.

Prior to the June 11 political agreement on a UK/EU treaty for Gibraltar, the start of the EES rollout was seen as a cliff-edge that would potentially have led to the hard post-Brexit border all sides had been at pains to avoid.

“During the six-month trial period of the EU’s EES, implementation at Spanish border checkpoints will be gradual, first at airports, then in a second phase at land borders, and finally at maritime borders,” Spain’s Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

“On Sunday, October 12, the first test will be carried out with passengers from a flight landing at Madrid-Barajas-Adolfo Suárez Airport early in the morning.”

News that Spain’s land border with Gibraltar will not be immediately affected by the introduction of the EES will be welcomed by negotiating teams working to finalise the legal text of the treaty in the coming weeks before proceeding to ratification.

To date pending conclusion of the treaty process, Spain, the UK, the European Commission and Gibraltar have in place interim arrangements that allow holders of Gibraltar’s red ID cards to cross into Spain without undergoing full checks applicable to non-EU nationals.

This avoids the stamping of passports, which could trigger the 90-in-180-day stay limit, and removes the need to provide additional travel documentation.

Gibraltar authorities also continue to allow EU nationals to enter with an ID card rather than a passport.

The Spanish Government has said these arrangements are consistent with EU law and do not raise security concerns.

But the introduction of the EES over the next six months once again sets a target date by the which negotiators hope the treaty will be in place to avoid any potential disruption.

On Thursday, senior European Commission official Clara Alberola, who was closely involved in the Gibraltar treaty negotiation, said the aim was to have the treaty in place by April next year.

“There is the political objective to be able to have the agreement in place before the Entry Exit System in the EU will be applied,” she told a meeting in the European Parliament.

“As you know, this will be mandatory as from April 2026.”

“But of course, this is a very ambitious timetable and we need to see if we will be able to do that.”

She nevertheless said the legal text was “well advanced” and should be finalised “at the latest in the next one to two months”.