After the three political trialogues and several technical meetings, the positions of the Council and European Parliament remain diametrically opposed to including dual nationals in the discussions on the proposal setting up a centralised information system on the convictions of third country nationals ('ECRIS-TCN').
In a note dated 14 May, of which EUROPE has obtained a copy, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU explained that although Parliament now recognised the risk of a “small fracture” by failing to include ID information from EU nationals that also have the nationality of the third country, it still considers that including this would be a disproportionate solution. It explains that “all political parties on the centre-left share this view”.
Several solutions for reaching a compromise have already been explored. At the end of April, the Presidency examined the possibility of proposing that for EU nationals that also have the nationality of a third country, no digital fingerprints would be included in the 'ECRIS-TCN' in an effort to respond to some of the concerns expressed by Parliament (see EUROPE 12011).
It was then suggested that dual nationals be included in the system but that an additional reference should be included in the revision clause that calls on the Commission to assess the application of this kind of inclusion. Parliament proposed a reverse compromise, namely, not to include dual nationals and to refer the question to a future Commission evaluation.
Therefore, at this stage, no concrete result is perceptible and the Presidency may need to present another compromise, which would consist of several elements.
This would, first of all, not include dual nationals for the time being in the ‘ECRIS-TCN’ system, but would request the Commission to assess opportunities for including them in the future and, if needs be, presenting a legislative proposal in this regard.
At the same time, there could also be a possibility for the appropriate authorities in the member states to consult the ‘ECRIS-TCN’ system in order to check whether an EU national has already had previous convictions as a third country national.
In exchange, the Presidency considers that Parliament would then be able to approve a text that is very close to the one sought by the Council on another stumbling block: the inclusion of digital fingerprints (see EUROPE 11964).
This compromise was presented on 18 May to the Council's police and judicial cooperation coordinating committee (CATS) but was not greeted with much enthusiasm by the delegations. Nonetheless, the Presidency is encouraging member states to persevere this time.
In a second note dated 24 May, it was explained that “The Presidency would like to bring this solution once again to the attention of the Member States, since it seems that some more reflection could be useful in this matter, given the strong position of the European Parliament and the fact that there are not many other solutions that are able to bridge the gap between the Council and the European Parliament”.
The inter-institutional negotiations at a political level will continue until 6 June next. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)