On Wednesday 23 April, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties approved, by 54 votes to 2 with 10 abstentions, the proposal for the gradual deployment of the Entry/Exit system (EES) at the EU’s external borders (see EUROPE 13617/11).
MEPs also authorised Assita Kanko (ECR, Belgian) to negotiate with the Council of the EU by 60 votes to 3 with 3 abstentions.
Delayed at the request of several Member States, the system may be rolled out over 180 days, although Member States should be free to decide whether to deploy the system all at once and from day one.
If they opt for a phased implementation, they should have greater flexibility to achieve certain targets, namely 10% of border crossings recorded in the system by day 30 (instead of day 1) and 35% (instead of 50%) by day 90, according to a press release.
The MEPs also recommend that neither the start nor the end of the gradual roll-out period should coincide with peak periods such as June-August or December-February.
Once operational, the EES will record data on third-country nationals, including biometric data such as facial images and fingerprints, when they enter and exit the Schengen area with a short-stay visa.
The negotiating mandate will be announced at the next plenary session in May.
Link to the adopted report: https://aeur.eu/f/ghq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)