Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-23-Speech-2-395"
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"Mr President, thank you for your kind words. Obviously I return the compliment in terms of commitment to Europe, and to the Vice-President of the Commission, Jacques Barrot.
Mr Coelho, ladies and gentlemen, redesigning the Schengen system is necessary to develop the new functions that crime prevention and border control will demand in future. The ‘SISone4ALL’ system, Minister, developed on the initiative of the Portuguese Presidency, is a happy compromise that allowed the Member States that joined in 2004 to be included and, more importantly, led to the removal of controls at internal land borders, in December, and then at air borders, in March.
We all felt emotional seeing the last iron curtain come down, seeing Slovak and Austrian ministers symbolically cut down the wooden barrier at the Berg-Petržalka crossing point to the east of Vienna. I think that this is a proud moment for any staunch European supporter, knowing that we have an area of free movement of 3.6 million km
. This is the largest area in the world, although – as you know – the necessary corollary of this great freedom is an electronic system that allows us to identify suspected criminals and to follow the trail of false papers and stolen passports, while applying stringent data protection rules to guarantee individual freedoms. I would like to emphasise this point.
However, as you quite rightly said, the current system does not allow the use of modern technology, even if this complies with the fundamental principles of data protection and especially the principle of proportionality. How can the police be efficient with a central database that does not currently allow them to look at digital photographs of wanted criminals, to identify them with any certainty? This is why the aim of the Schengen II or SIS II information system must be maintained; as you clearly explained, this is the real issue in our debate. Mr President, on behalf of the Council, I would like to thank the Vice-President, Mr Barrot, who, under a new mandate, has agreed to continue overseeing the development of the new SIS central database, in addition to the connection with national databases. I would like to thank him for being personally involved in this project.
The draft texts that you will be asked to vote on tomorrow set out a clearer division of responsibilities between the Member States and the Commission during each phase, whether in terms of project development, final tests, the interim phase, with the converter, or the final migration of one system to another, in the interests of establishing an overall balance between the obligations of Member States and the responsibilities of the European Commission.
I would particularly like to thank Mr Coelho, who has worked swiftly, effectively and imaginatively on this important project, together with his colleagues from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. I would also ask him to pass on my thanks to the committee chairman, Mr Deprez. Mr Coelho has encouraged support for the texts needed for today’s plenary, and these texts incorporate the proposals that you made, Mr Coelho. Parliament’s support today allows us to embark on a new phase in the transition to SIS II, in time for the expiry of the Commission’s current mandate – an ad hoc mandate, I should point out – which is due to expire on 31 December. I would just like to reassure the Vice-President on this point.
Of course, the launch of the new system represents an enormous technological challenge, and one that was no doubt underestimated at first. In fact, the transfer of 22 million records involving more than 24 parties whose national databases are in different formats is, as you can imagine, no mean feat. However, the efforts that have been made in this project are, I think, up to the task. In view of these technical and financial efforts, the European Parliament deserves to be kept fully informed of the progress and of the difficulties that exist in the transition to the new system. A deadline should be set – as you said, Mr Coelho – to test the new system and check that it will be fully operational – as we all hope – in September next year, as agreed during the Justice and Home Affairs Council Meeting on 6 June.
We realise that we have set ourselves a tight deadline. The technical experts realise this. We can only meet this deadline if everyone is wholeheartedly committed to the SIS II project and shoulders their responsibilities. With this report, the European Parliament is sending out a positive signal this evening by asking perfectly legitimate questions. This is why the Council proposes to unconditionally approve the amendments tabled, which, I should point out, have received the support of all political groups within the European Parliament. Thank you so much for all your hard work."@en1
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