Luxembourg, 07/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Thursday 7 October 2010, the European Commission said that it would be providing financial aid for the Member States to help them develop the national systems needed to get the second generation Schengen Information System running (SIS II), using EU biometric police databases. The European Commission confirmed that it would be making it possible for Member States to get funding from the European External Border Fund to allay the concerns of several countries that SIS II will require further investment at a time when they are supposed to be reining in public spending (see EUROPE 10223 and 10152). In a conclusions document, the EU Council of Ministers says that the introduction of SIS II is still an 'absolute priority' and it calls on all stakeholders (implying the Commission) to leave no stone unturned to ensure that the project is fully impel meted on time and within the financial planning scenario set out by the Commission. The European Commission expects SIS II to be up and running on 31 March 2013 (several years late). A second widescale test, known as Milestone 2, is planned for the second half of 2012. The extra costs are estimated at €12.98 million mainly due to the increases in the size of the data to be processes, the equivalent of 100 million separate items of data). Some estimates suggest that the extra costs will rise to as high as €160 million when the system comes online. If SIS II does not work, then the ministers say a Plan B needs to be introduced. (B.C. trans fl)