On Thursday 8 March, EU28 ministers and representatives of ministers for home affairs discussed proposals tabled in December by the European Commission relating to the interoperability of European information systems (see EUROPE 11924). They looked at the relevance of measures taken by the institution.
This is an “absolute priority”, said Bulgarian Home Minister Valentin Radev. The European commissioner for home affairs, for his part, said it would be necessary to reach an agreement on these texts by the end of the year.
On 12 December, the European Commission had proposed two regulatory initiatives allowing development of the interoperability of European information systems such as the Schengen Information System, the Eurodac database, the VIS or ECRIS systems or future systems such as the Entry/Exit system or the travel information and authorisation system for foreign travellers, ETIAS.
In a proposal of regulation, the European Commission suggested that these different systems would work better together and, above all, that they could be made simultaneously accessible to police forces or legal authorities seeking to investigate into an individual, in one single research action. This would take the form of a European research portal.
In order to detect multiple identities used by certain persons or identity fraud, the Commission also proposed “a shared service with connection to biometric data”. A common identity data inventory would provide basic biometric and biographical information, such as name and date of birth of third country nationals. A “multiple identity detector” would, moreover, immediately signal cases of identity fraud or multiple identities.
Several meetings of working groups have been held on this subject since 12 December. On 15 December, the Commission’s proposals had been generally welcomed by the delegations, a Council memo states. The Commission is also organising technical workshops. During the meetings, several issues were raised, including some of a legal and operational kind. It was also reiterated that the system was to be given sufficient financial means as well as the necessary human resources. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)