EU sues IBM, Atos and Leonardo over €212M border system delays
What's the deal? The EU has sued IBM, French IT group Atos and Italian defence contractor Leonardo over repeated delays in building its new smart border system. EU-Lisa, the agency overseeing the project, filed the civil case in December 2025 in Estonia, its host country, according to internal communications seen by the Financial Times.
The backstory: The consortium repeatedly missed deadlines and disputed EU-Lisa's warnings and fines. In an October 2021 letter, Atos Belgium and IBM Belgium challenged a fine, blaming "external factors" including the Covid-19 pandemic. Months later, the three firms pushed back against new deadlines, writing that "ignoring reality is not prudent and will not help to achieve the plan."
What's the system? The Entry/Exit System requires travellers from outside the bloc to scan fingerprints and photographs on first entering the Schengen area, which spans 29 European countries. The goal is to identify people who overstay visas or are wanted by authorities.
Why now? Originally due in 2022, the system was fully rolled out only this year. Its introduction has been plagued by software and hardware glitches — including fingerprint scanners failing when smeared with sweat — causing hours-long airport queues across Europe.
The money: The contract's value had already risen from €142 million to €212 million in 2021. EU-Lisa nearly doubled the EES budget in 2023 to €40 million by reallocating funds from other projects. The amount now sought in the lawsuit has not been disclosed.
What's next? A spokesperson for Estonia's Harju county court confirmed the civil case had been lodged but said no hearings have been scheduled. The original contract expired last year, and a new consortium took over, though Atos, Leonardo and IBM remained in charge until August.
EU-Lisa said the suit protects "its financial interests" and has "no impact on the functioning of the Entry/Exit System (EES), which is fully operational across Europe." The European Commission stressed the case concerns "delays in the delivery of the EES at the time of the system development." Leonardo and Atos declined to comment; IBM did not respond.
The signal: The case is chiefly about accountability for a troubled development, not an immediate change to border checks. For a politically sensitive security project that ran three years late and over budget, it signals Brussels is prepared to pursue major IT contractors in court when large public programmes falter.
Read more: Financial Times
Image credit: Sergey Vladimirov
