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EU's €212M border IT project lands IBM and Atos in legal water

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.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 1 source•1 min read•Updated November 10, 2026, 11:01 AM UTC
Key points
  • Last year, Atos reportedly used its Moscow office to procure software for the system, raising questions about Russian involvement in sensitive European border infrastructure.
  • The original contract expired last year, with a new consortium taking over implementation, although IBM, Atos, and Leonardo remained responsible until August.
  • IBM and Atos did not respond to The Register 's questions.

IBM Belgium and Atos Belgium were already arguing over penalties back in October 2021, when they disputed a fine from eu-LISA and pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors beyond their control as reasons for the delays.

Additional details
  • The FT also reported that IBM agreed in March 2022 to let eu-LISA withhold certain payments while the dispute over damages was resolved.
  • The EU's anti-fraud office, OLAF, found sufficient grounds for further investigation, according to an internal report seen by the FT.
  • In a statement to The Register, eu-LISA confirmed it had initiated proceedings "in line with the Agency’s responsibility to protect the EU’s financial interests." "The proceedings concern the system’s development phase and have no impact on its current operation.
  • "On the contrary, working with an unrealistic plan will cause frustration for all stakeholders." The consortium also criticized eu-LISA's "overall governance," suggesting relations between the two sides had become rather frosty.
  • Behind the scenes, things weren't going much better, with the consortium and eu-LISA spending years arguing over missed deadlines, financial penalties and who was to blame.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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The RegisterNovember 10, 2026, 11:01 AM UTC →

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