Faced with the many passengers on Wednesday evening at Brussels Airport due to the start of the holiday season, the police had no choice than to ease the border controls. Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad writes that hundreds of passengers left the country without a proper check of their passports.

According to the newspaper, the police invoked article 9 of the Schengen Agreement (read below) where border checks at external borders may be relaxed as a result of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances.

During the short check, police officers checked the passport and the validity date, no further inspections were carried out on 500 to 1000 passengers.

The Federal Police, however, emphasizes that – despite a relaxation of the border checks – the luggage and the passenger were properly inspected at the security checkpoints.

Article 9 — Relaxation of border checks

1. Border checks at external borders may be relaxed as a result of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances. Such exceptional and unforeseen circumstances shall be deemed to be those where unforeseeable events lead to traffic of such intensity that the waiting time at the border crossing point becomes excessive, and all resources have been exhausted as regards staff, facilities and organisation.¶
2. Where border checks are relaxed in accordance with paragraph 1, border checks on entry movements shall in principle take priority over border checks on exit movements.The decision to relax checks shall be taken by the border guard in command at the border crossing point.

   Such relaxation of checks shall be temporary, adapted to the circumstances justifying it and introduced gradually.

3. Even in the event that checks are relaxed, the border guard shall stamp the travel documents of third-country nationals both on entry and exit, in accordance with Article 11.
4. Each Member State shall transmit once a year a report on the application of this Article to the European Parliament and the Commission.