Brussels, 24/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - With a view to stepping up the EU's internal security, the European Commission proposed a series of measures on Thursday, including a decision on access to the Visa Information System (VIS) and a communication on the development of three databases: the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and EURODAC, the database containing fingerprints of asylum seekers and illegal migrants. Commissioner Franco Frattini explained that, in the context of the fight against terrorism and organised crime, it is essential for the relevant Member State services and EU bodies, such as Europol, to have the most complete and recent information in full compliance with fundamental rights.
The Council's proposal for a decision aims to create the necessary legal base to allow access to VIS consultation not only for the Member State authorities that are competent in matters concerning internal security but also for Europol, in order to prevent and detect terrorist offences and other serious criminal offences and to conduct inquiries. The communication on the medium and long term development of SIS, VIS and EURODAC essentially aims to create synergy between these European databases, mainly with a view to enhancing their effectiveness and their interoperability. In addition to the technical questions for creating such synergy, the communication also sets out how these systems may more effectively support policies relating to the free movement of persons and assist in counter-terrorism and the fight against organised crime. The communication also tackles the possible implementation of other initiatives such as the creation of an entry/exist system and a system aimed at facilitating the crossing of external borders for persons making frequent cross-border trips, or the creation of an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). In presenting these measures, the Commission is aware of the fact that it will be difficult to find a compromise between measures envisaged and the protection of fundamental rights, mainly when it comes to the protection of personal data. Another difficulty is that the three databases each have their own legal bases. Thus, for now, EURODAC can only be consulted by asylum services. Also, the Commission provides in its May 2005 proposals to have SIS II based on different legal bases (EUROPE 8959). This means the data protection regime would become highly complex. The fact that the authorities can have access to the SIS II database for information is a major change as access was hitherto only authorised under certain conditions. As for VIS, the European controller was adamant when speaking in July this year that this new instrument should be limited to its objective, namely the setting in place of a common visa policy. He said that systematic access to this system by repressive services would not be in line with this objective (EUROPE 9000). The European controller also said that the use of biometric data in VIS must be flanked by “strict guarantees” given the major impact that it could have.