The S&D group in the European Parliament may not be in a position to support the provisional agreement reached by the Parliamentary delegation led by Belgian MEP Gérard Deprez (ALDE) and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union on the security of new identity cards and residence permits issued in the EU, its representative, the German Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, said on Monday 25 February in the Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee.
The MEP reiterated her opposition to the mandatory nature of fingerprints on new cards, as enacted on 19 February (see EUROPE 12197).
The rapporteur acknowledged that this had been the most sensitive point and that Parliament had supported an optional approach, leaving it to the Member States to decide on the matter.
Mr Deprez wondered why Parliament accepted mandatory fingerprints on "passports" and rejected it for "identity cards".
Among the positive points, the Belgian mentioned the following obtained by Parliament: - increased security; - increased readability of credentials via a single format for all future cards issued in the EU; - the presence of a European symbol, and; - the availability of three genders (f, m and x). The reference to gender will be optional, he said.
The Parliamentary committee is expected to vote on the final compromise on 11 March, after the Member States' ambassadors to the EU have spoken on Wednesday 27 February. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)