Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-06-Speech-3-157"
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"en.20070606.18.3-157"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Altmaier, ladies and gentlemen, we have had a very detailed briefing on the VIS, and anything I might add to that would only water down the good things that have already been said.
Accordingly, I would like to concentrate on the Prüm Treaty. I agree with my honourable colleague, Mr Herbert Reul, that a sound instrument has been created here. The fact that the data I used to request through the system of official and judicial assistance can now be exchanged digitally makes thoroughly good sense. There is not a great deal to be said on the aim and the idea. I do fear, however, that we are making three cardinal errors – one in the field of internal security, one in the realm of justice and home affairs and one with regard to the third pillar. We believe that speed
is a virtue. We no longer take time to consider whether certain things are actually working or how they could be improved. As far as the third pillar is concerned, we have heard one or two comments today about transparency and democracy, at least with regard to the involvement of Parliament and its right to receive information. The main point I want to make is this: of course exchanges work well between Germany and Austria. We know that successes have been registered there. But now imagine the situation with 27 Member States. Work out the sheer number of possible combinations, what that will mean in terms of the volume of data exchanges and also what a database has to be able to deliver in this context. We do not know whether it is even technically feasible in its present form.
My other point is that data, particularly the likes of fingerprints and DNA data, are stored in the various Member States for different reasons. The United Kingdom, as my honourable colleague Sarah Ludford is probably all too well aware, is currently establishing a database that will eventually cover the entire population. At what point does the exchange of such data become legitimate and workable in these circumstances? Cost is another matter. The Member States still have to foot the bill, although I believe that, at a pinch, parts of the cost could be transferred to the community budget – we would have to see what agreement is reached; I know that Poland, for example, takes a different view. I seem to remember reading a document from the Presidency of the Council, which estimated that Germany would incur costs of around EUR 900 000. This makes me wonder how, in its study, the House of Lords could estimate the cost of the project for Britain at some EUR 35 million. Surely there cannot be such huge differences in the way these figures are assessed!
Had we not had such an excellent committee secretariat and such outstanding staff, we should not even have reached page 2 in our assessment of the Prüm Treaty and the accompanying parliamentary opinion. Finally, I have a request to make. You have heard often enough that the procedure has come under heavy fire here. It certainly does not accord with the principle of better lawmaking or with the democratic involvement of a third institution. Let us cooperate properly and reasonably in future rather than proceeding in the way that was done with the Prüm Treaty – even if you do have a formal right to exert pressure on us through the three-month limit. It is not entirely conducive to a good working climate either if a senior civil servant from the Council Presidency, when asked in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs what is happening with the parliamentary amendments on Prüm, replies, ‘Well, if we took them into account at this stage and reopened the package that has been sealed with the Member States, we would never make any progress’. That is no way to cooperate. In all other respects, Mr Altmaier, you know that I hold you in high regard!"@en1
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