After last year’s French and German terrorist attacks, the Brexiteers were loud in their calls for tougher EU border controls. But they turn out to have preferred the theory to the practice. Today’s Daily Mail (“Shambles at EU airports”) and Daily Express (“Now EU spoil our holidays”) declare their outrage at the long delays British holidaymakers have faced in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium
It’s not Brexit which is to blame (that, of course, hasn’t happened yet) but the UK’s non-membership of the Schengen Zone. A new EU regulation which took effect on 7 April 2017 requires the passports of all those arriving and leaving the border-free area to be checked (rather than merely waved through). The details of passengers are compared against European databases to see if they pose a security threat. Though all travellers who leave the zone are affected, regardless of citizenship, the burden falls most heavily on Britons (the UK is the largest of the six EU members outside Schengen).
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