Brussels, 08/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The project aimed at creating the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) was, for some, doomed to be discarded but now has a chance of surviving. In principle, the system would seem to have successfully moved on to the first technical trial stage, entitled “Milestone 1”, the success of which is required in order to continue development of SIS II.
Created in 1990, the SIS is an index common to 25 member countries of the Schengen Area. It aims to centralise and facilitate the exchange of information detained by police authorities. It contains over 28 million entries, of which over 22 million concern stolen objects. Some 1.2 million persons - undesirables, sought by justice - are recorded in the register. SIS II, which is an extremely complex project, aims to strengthen the mechanism for the identification of people thanks to biometric storage of data (photographs and fingerprints). The aim for operational launching of the SIS II was fixed at end September 2011, that is over 4 years after the date originally set. To keep to this new timetable, several tests are foreseen in 2010.
The “Milestone 1”, held from 2 to 5 March this year, involved five member states - Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, Austria and Germany, the last two being the most reticent regarding continuation of SIS II. In total, 24 tetrabytes of data are the subject of transfer between member states and the technical infrastructure centre in Strasbourg. “The first trial has therefore gone off well. It has given positive results although these are not final”, a European source said. The Commission is expected to present an assessment report on this test to the various European capitals at the end of March/ in early April so that experts from member states give their opinions. On this basis, EU home ministers will, on 22 April, take a decision on whether to continue the work of developing SIS II. If their decision is positive, a second trial “Milestone 2” - which will test the system in its optimal capacity - will be organised. The final decision as to whether to continue the SIS II project or not will depend on the results of this final test. In the event of a negative decision after each of the tests, the alternative decision - namely the continuation of SIS 1+ development (the first adapted version of SIS), called SIS 1 + RE - will be selected. During the presentation of the report in March, the European Commission should also present complete information on the funding of SIS II and contractual provisions. With a view to better supervision, the European Parliament has threatened the Commission that it will adopt a possible measure of budgetary reserve against the project if no progress is made. On the occasion of a debate in the EP committee on civil liberties last week, Jean-Louis de Brouwer (DG Justice and Home Affairs) said that any reserve should remain flexible. “If there has to be reserve, then clear and precise conditions are required to unblock it so that funds may be released so as not to jeopardise the project”, he said. According to a study carried out in 2009, the total cost of the two scenarios would be comparable: €46.9 million for SIS II compared to €43.5 million for the alternative solution. However, stopping SIS II would cost the EU many millions in litigation with suppliers and would make it lose huge investments. (B.C./transl.jl)