public sector

After years of missed deadlines, ballooning costs, and a blame game over who was responsible, Brussels has finally called in the lawyers

The European Union has dragged IBM, Atos, and Leonardo into court over years of delays to its troubled €212 million smart border system, which finally went live after missing a string of deadlines and leaving travelers stuck in airport queues.

The lawsuit dates back to December 22, 2025, when eu-LISA, the agency behind the EU's fingerprint-and-facial-image border checks for non-EU travelers, filed its claim in an Estonian court.

The lawsuit was buried in eu-LISA's 2025 financial accounts , published in July, with no mention of who was being sued.…