In Strasbourg on the evening of Monday 12 December, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) approved new rules for Eurodac, the database of fingerprints of asylum seekers and irregular migrants.
As agreed with the EU Council in the joint roadmap on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ signed in September, this vote therefore paves the way for an initial trilogue with the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, on 15 December.
The text of the regulation, presented by Jorge Buxade (ECR) of Spain, was adopted by 30 votes to 15 - a sign that the issue remains controversial.
Also providing for the taking of fingerprints and biometric data of minor migrants and asylum seekers from the age of six, the text was rejected by the Greens/EFA group, which denounced a “dramatic” development, wrote Belgian MEP Saskia Bricmont on Twitter.
The draft regulation aims to improve statistics on arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers, and also to record return decisions or negative asylum decisions, thus turning Eurodac into a large migration database which will also include information on resettled persons.
The LIBE Committee has decided that, contrary to the wishes of the EU Council, which approved its mandate in June (see EUROPE 12977/19), there will be no separate category for people disembarked after search and rescue operations.
The database will record both biometric data - fingerprints and facial images - and additional information, such as surname, first name, nationality, and date or place of birth.
The Eurodac database will also be interoperable with other information systems such as the Visa Information System, the future ETIAS travel authorisation system, and the entry/exit system.
LIBE MEPs also wanted to strengthen data protection provisions by requiring an independent supervisor for data processing activities in Eurodac and asked for access to Eurodac data by national authorities and EU agencies, such as Frontex and Europol, only when strictly necessary to perform specific tasks.
Link to the mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/4mq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)