Negotiators from the Parliament and the EU Council have not yet been able to reach agreement at Thursday 14 February on the voluntary or mandatory presence of fingerprints on future identity cards issued in the Member States. After a first trilogue on 24 January, which made it possible to reach agreement on a large number of open points (see EUROPE 12180), the Council remained firm in its determination to make the presence of fingerprints mandatory on future identity documents.
The Parliament, with its rapporteur Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium), supports a voluntary approach, but the Parliament may have to take a step towards the Council if it wants the matter to be closed during this legislature, explains a parliamentary source. This decision could be taken as early as Monday 18 February in a meeting with the shadow rapporteurs, and a new trilogue could be held on 19 February, the source adds.
Otherwise, the negotiation will have to be referred back to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which would take responsibility for voting on this text and this compromise in favour of the Council or rejecting it, with the risk of delaying the matter.
The Council, according to this source, is very "firm" on this mandatory aspect and the Parliament may have to give in. "The mandatory nature of fingerprints is very important for the Council; it wants to stick to its mandate on this point", confirms a Council source.
However, "things have progressed well on everything else", says the source. The rapporteur has indeed been satisfied on some points, as his office confirms, such as on the presence of the European flag on the front of future identity cards. More references to the European Data Protection Regulation have also been included and the Member State will be responsible for any confidentiality issues, even if external service providers are used to produce the cards.
A compromise was also reached on the recognition of residence documents as travel documents. This decision will be subject to a security assessment by the Commission. The same solution was adopted for provisional documents (issued, for example, in the event of loss of documents). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)