hugolover

We were all made to queue at the All Passports desks to depart LIN, told Brits cannot use "eGates" due to "change of policy". She said it with a smug smile on her face as well. Probably Lega supporter.

This is odd. A rogue employee?

Plus at MXP an all manner of TCN passport holders can use eGates.

GUWonder

Rogue employee or rogue policy, I think. I was told that for regular UK citizens entering the EU/Schengen area entry and exit is to remain as was last year and continue until some time in December this year unless and until a new agreement expedites or postpones the end of the free movement allowance for UK citizen passport users.

Yoshi212

I'd recommend being prepared for lots more of this.

MSPeconomist

The "rogue" employee follows current events and is aware that the UK is no longer in the EU. If the sign says EU passports plus Switzerland, the employee might be following the posted rule.

ReinaDeLaSelva

Si exactamente muchachos. Britain elected to leave EU. So be it. The will of the people is served at the gates of LIN lol! And mucho mas.

xarantine

Except the transition period explicitly preserves the status quo until 1 January 2021, and it is likely (barring some higher-than-usual amount of stupidity from the UK govt) that e-gates will still be usable post-transition.

NickB

The "rogue" employee's following of current events seems nonetheless to leave said employee, as well as a few FTers it would seem, blissfully unaware that the UK and the EU have concluded a Withdrawal Agreement which provides for the prolongation of most EU rules, including those related to the free movement of persons, until the end of 2020.

Squerez

Leaving apart political considerations, UK voted to leave EU. There's a transition period but e-GATES are not a constitutional right or something like that. During the transition there's still freedom of movement (that's granted! not the way how is offered) but airports start to adapt themselves to the new reality. UK on its way is actually giving out passport without EU flag and soon (if not already done) in different colors. That's the transition folks!
EU is a club (bad or good depends on the point of view): UK is not anymore part of it by its own choice. Somehow this means something.

Often1

Or, the front-line low-level employee heard from someone else who heard from their mother-in-law that the UK had left the EU and thus UK nationals could no longer use the e-Gates.

One would imagine that if indeed the Italian government had implemented a policy change that it would have informed relevant stakeholders such as air carriers. The absence of that suggests the mother-in-law.

LondonElite

There is a Brexit thread in Omni if you want to discuss that there please...

NickB

If it is a deliberate decision (and it is far from clear that this is the case), denying access to e-gates to UK passport holders in early February 2020 when: a) UK passport holders have exactly the same travel rights as they had last year; b) the negotiations on the future relationship have not yet even started and won't do so until March so that we have no idea of what arrangements will be agreed, if any, regarding visitors from the UK in the EU and vice-versa form 2021 onwards would not constitute preparing oneself to the new reality. It would constitute either deliberate gratuitous obstructionism (which is unlikely, I would have thought) or plain and simple incompetence by a poorly informed airport operator (which is somewhat higher on the probability scale but still substantially below the probability of a poorly informed local agent attempting to adding 2+2 and coming to a result of 17).

But I bet that there will be plenty of examples of such ignorance on both sides of the Channel in multiple contexts in the next 10 months or so.

hugolover

I don't want to jump the gun on this. I'm surprised one of BArbs Legacy Pax hasn't reported this, cos of course its annoying.

It could be this was just one nasty enforcer, perhaps a transphobe or other bigot.

OTOH as long as things move the same way as MXP, I can't see Brits being excluded from the eGates considering a whole load of TCNs are eligible to use them.

ReinaDeLaSelva

UK has left the EU officially. So por favor, who will enforce the agreements? The EU courts? But UK is out of EU already.

This is not an isolated event. I am laughing hard when I read this:

https://www.eturbonews.com/542925/no...passport-line/

NickB

[Moderator edit.] For your information, yes, the CJEU still has jurisdiction during the transitional period and national courts in the UK and in the EU are still responsible for enforcing EU law in exactly the same way as before Jan 2020.

[Moderator edit]

maccymac

[Moderator edit]
Transition period - everything stays as they are. The UK still pays into the EU, EU rules apply, European courts still have jurisdiction, UK and EU citizens are treated equally.

[Moderator edit]