EU sues IBM, Atos and Leonardo over EES border delays
- EU-Lisa filed a lawsuit against the consortium in Estonia.
- The EES system caused significant airport delays during summer 2026.
- Greece avoided queues by choosing to turn off the biometric system.
- The EES project contract value rose from €142m to €212m by 2021.
- Atos faced scrutiny for purchasing EES software via its Moscow office.
The European Union agency EU-Lisa has filed a lawsuit against IBM, Atos, and Leonardo at the Harju county court in Estonia. This legal action concerns development delays in the Entry/Exit System, a biometric border check mechanism.
The Entry/Exit System tracks non-EU visitors to the Schengen area by requiring facial scans and fingerprints on their first visit. This system is designed to replace physical passport stamps and monitor for overstayers.
The litigation follows significant airport delays that occurred during the summer of 2026.
Summer 2026 airport queues impact travelers
Passengers experienced widespread travel disruptions across Europe following the full rollout of the system in April 2026. British travelers faced hours of waiting at airports throughout southern Europe.
EasyJet passengers reported three-hour waits in Milan, while other travelers experienced two- to three-hour delays in Krakow, Lisbon, Milan, and Rome. Greece avoided these airport queues by choosing to turn off the system.
Contract history and budget growth for EES
A consortium consisting of IBM Belgium, Atos Belgium, and Leonardo was awarded the core contract for the Entry/Exit System in 2019. EU-Lisa identified IBM as the consortium leader in 2021.
EU-Lisa reported in 2021 that the consortium had accumulated unrecoverable delays in the development and testing of the central system during 2020 and 2021. The contract value rose from approximately €142m to about €212m in 2021, a change attributed in EU procurement records to new requirements and additional services.
EU-Lisa nearly doubled the 2023 budget for the system to €40m to address funding needs. The original contract with the consortium has since expired, and a different group now operates the system.
Technical development and security concerns
The Entry/Exit System was initially scheduled for a 2022 launch. It began in stages during October 2025 and became mandatory at all border crossings in April 2026.
EU-Lisa stated that no security breach was identified following this discovery.
Official positions on the lawsuit and system performance
The European Commission stated the lawsuit focuses on development delays rather than the current operation of the EES. EU-Lisa maintains that the dispute does not impact the system's current performance.
In February 2026, ACI Europe and airlines warned that border waits could exceed four hours. They cautioned that there was no flexibility to disable the system during peak travel times.
Travel insurance implications for delays
The Association of British Insurers and Defaqto indicated that losses from EES-related border delays are generally not covered by UK travel insurance policies. Insurers consider border checks a normal part of travel.
The UK travel insurance industry pays out over £470m annually in claims and is currently dealing with a rise in detected fraud.
Separately, the UK Court of Appeal previously awarded roughly £80m to an insurer in a case against IBM regarding the 2017 failure of Project Cobalt. This ruling will not legally determine the outcome of the Estonian case.
Atos corporate profile and financial standing
Atos SE is an IT services and consulting company with its headquarters in Bezons, France. For the first half of 2026, the company reported a revenue of 3.41B and a gross profit of 3.15B, according to tavily.com.
It recorded an EBITDA of 36.00M, an EBIT of -140.00M, and a net income of -504, according to tavily.com. The market capitalisation for Atos was 78.19M EUR as of 29 October 2024.
Leonardo supercomputer infrastructure context
The machine features an Atos BullSequana XH2000 computer with nearly 14,000 Nvidia Ampere GPUs.
Inaugurated in November 2022, Leonardo was ranked as the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world and the second fastest in Europe on the TOP500 list at that time.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Brussels sues IBM, Atos and Leonardo over border system behind summer’s airport queues | Insurance Business (insurancebusinessmag.com)
- Atos (tavily.com)
- Leonardo (supercomputer) (Wikipedia — background) (en.wikipedia.org)
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