Brussels, 27/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission recently announced to the EU27 that the budget for the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) would require an additional envelope of around €30 million. This would therefore bring the total cost of the project up to €103 million, without counting costs incurred by member states. In a recent communication, the European Commission confirmed that the new estimated date for activating SIS II was 31 March 2013. Additional costs are estimated to be €12.98 million (the main reason is due to be increased volume of data processing). These costs will be sent to ministers at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 7 October and 8 October in Luxembourg. These costs are in addition to the €28 million more announced last April. Given these additional amounts and those already spent on the SIS II project (€62 million), the estimated total cost of the system could rise to €103 million, without counting national costs, which have not been sent in by the member states (EUROPE 10152). Reactions to these newly announced figures were not long in coming. Berlin, which has often voiced misgivings about the SIS II dossier, again harshly criticised the Commission for its imprecise estimates regarding the dossier which, in Germany's eyes, has been dragging on for too long. One diplomatic source reported that “Germany is furious with the Commission because the latter has demonstrated that it was failing to control project management adequately”. Austria and France are also part of this hard-core and Greece and Slovenia also informed the Commission that it is responsible for project development. Other countries are also beginning to get their voices heard: the United Kingdom (calling for an independent auditing system), Portugal, Lithuania and Poland. These latter countries are effectively aware that the SIS II adventure will imply further investment from them in this period of crisis. In its defence, the Commission highlighted the fact that the SIS II budget has not overstretched the envelope allocated by the EU for the 2007-2013 period. The Commission is also proposing that 75% of member states' future national investments are funded through the EU's external borders fund. Despite these promises, there is a prevailing general feeling of doubt in many member states, which are hoping that the conclusions of the next Council will be definitive this time from both a timetable and budgetary point of view. It will still be necessary to make a decision on the question of an alternative to the SIS II project, known as “SIS 1 + RE”, which expires this month and which will therefore be subject to a new call for tenders. (B.C./transl.fl)