I’m in Ireland this week for the launch of the country’s time at the helm of the EU Council presidency, which was marked yesterday by an opening ceremony at Dublin Castle with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I’ll write more about the content of this press trip tomorrow, but what I wanted to write about today is what I encountered on the journey here.
For logistical reasons, I had to fly to Dublin from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (90 minutes from Brussels by train). CDG is a nightmare at the best of times, but on this visit it was particularly bad. I had been hearing stories about nightmare queues at the EU’s Schengen entry and exit checks piling up already this summer, and I saw it for myself as I was leaving. Unlike in the US or UK, when you leave the EU’s Schengen area (which I had to do because Ireland isn’t in Schengen) you have to go through an exit passport check. When I got to it, I was told that the line was stretching to 90 minutes wait for non-EU citizens. Luckily, when I waved my Belgian passport someone ushered me to the other line, and I was through in three minutes.
Why the difference? The EU’s ETIAS and accompanying Entry/Exit System (EES), the equivalent of the US ESTA system, is right now coming