Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-19-Speech-1-120"
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"Madam President, I would not wish to try Parliament’s patience, but all the same, I do need to clarify a number of things for the MEPs here present and for Parliament.
Finally, for precautionary purposes, as was stipulated by the June Council, the Commission has begun the preparatory work with a view to potentially switching to the alternative scheme should the current technical solution fail.
In order to take account of this data and of the new timetable, we must obviously translate these circumstances into legislation. That is why, on 29 September, the Commission proposed some amendments to the SIS II migration instruments, amendments on which your Parliament is currently being consulted. This will give us an opportunity to review the issue in detail.
As regards VIS, in April 2009, the contractor began a series of tests on the central system in order to assess the progress made. The contractor has not yet succeeded in meeting all of the contractual criteria required to conclude this series of tests, even though its deadline was extended.
The Commission has, of course, applied the contractual penalties provided for to punish this delay. It has ordered the contractor to implement all of the appropriate corrective measures.
I do not believe, but I may be proved wrong, that there is a design problem. On the other hand, it would seem that the STT is going well. The tests should be concluded on 11 November. However, in parallel to this, the Member States must also adapt their own national systems so that they can use VIS. At least three Member States are encountering major difficulties, and the delays due to these three States are even more significant than those caused by the central system.
Thus, we are currently performing a detailed analysis with the Member States in order to set out a new timetable for the launch of VIS. To do this, however, we need to have a clear idea of the outcome of the series of tests on the central system.
My meeting on Friday gives me reason to believe that 11 November could be the date when we will know whether the tests under way are successful. In any event, however, both the national systems and the central system must be fully operational before the system is launched. I will, of course, inform Parliament of this new timetable as soon as we have been able to draft it.
I shall finish here – please excuse me for my rather lengthy speech, but I really wanted to give a detailed account of the progress of SIS II and VIS. There is real cause for concern; there is no point in hiding it. The technical, budgetary and political risk profiles of both projects justify us all getting involved, given our respective responsibilities. Significant financial resources have been harnessed. The total amount of the Commission’s budget commitments on SIS II stands at just over EUR 80 million, of which just over half, or EUR 44.5 million, have so far been paid. The total amount that the Commission has already committed to VIS so far is in the region of EUR 74.5 million. In terms of budgetary implementation, nearly EUR 43.3 million have actually been spent to date. These figures are in line with those of projects on a similar scale developed in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Madam President, I am anxious to say here that I will definitely inform Parliament of any developments that may have an impact on the budget, or indeed on the launch date for these systems.
However, if we succeed with VIS and SIS II, we will have equipped Europe with the most effective system in the world. We therefore have to tackle the obstacles in a calm, clear and practical fashion, and in this respect, I will take the liberty of requesting Parliament’s help as often as I need it in order, once again, to monitor these two issues very closely and to ensure their successful conclusion.
When, a year and a half ago, I took on the portfolio of commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security, I found on my desk two large-scale information technology projects aimed at equipping the Member States with modern and effective cooperation tools.
Those two projects, SIS II and VIS, formed part of the same contract, signed in 2003, between the Commission and a consortium of information technology companies. Both of these projects are technologically complex. We need to interconnect a central system and national equipment with particularly demanding specifications, and make them interact.
I have always tried to keep Parliament informed of these developments. Following the Justice and Home Affairs Councils in February and June 2009, I wrote to Mr Deprez, the chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, to inform him of how the work on SIS II was progressing. I sent you a copy of that correspondence, Mr Coelho, because you are the usual rapporteur for SIS-related issues, and you follow these issues closely.
Motivated as I am by this spirit of openness, I should like today, once again, to give you as much information as possible. It is true that, like most major industrial projects, both SIS II and VIS are in danger of going over schedule and over budget. It is true that the situation is unsatisfactory as regards both SIS II and VIS.
Despite the involvement of experts from the Commission and the Member States, SIS II continues to come up against various obstacles. VIS, for its part, has entered an important phase. The initial specifications made it difficult to perform the planned tests but it seems that, with the Member States’ agreement, the review of these specifications should enable the tests to be completed successfully next time.
I come firstly to SIS II. The Commission is working closely with the Presidency, the Member States and the contractors to implement the guidelines laid down in the conclusions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 4 and 5 June.
Firstly, all the parties concerned are actively involved in the technical preparations for a first ‘milestone’ test aimed at ensuring that the current technical solution is built on a solid foundation. With this in mind, the Commission has negotiated the contractual changes required with the consortium in charge of the project. For the first milestone, there is an extra cost of EUR 1 026 000. At the same time, our services have stepped up the governance and monitoring of the project. They have introduced contractual penalties so as to put added pressure on the contractor.
On Friday evening, I summoned and met with the CEO of the company in charge of the project so that he could inform me personally of the measures that he was implementing to resolve the technical difficulties."@en1
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