"Smart border" checks at EU gateways - MEPs to quiz Commission and Council
Are the envisaged entry/exit system and the registered traveller programme "appropriate" and "adequate" responses to the current and future situation at the EU's external borders, given the growing number of people crossing? MEPs will put the question to Commission and Council on Wednesday. They are also likely to ask the Commission for more information on the expected new proposals and when they will be presented.
Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, announced on 3 December last year that the “Smart Borders” proposals tabled in 2013 would be withdrawn and replaced by new ones at the end of 2015 or the start of 2016.
Background for editors
The Smart Borders package includes proposals for an Entry/Exit System (EES) and a Registered Traveller Programme (RTP), to improve the management of Schengen area external borders, combat irregular immigration and gather data on over-stayers, whilst at the same time making it easier for pre-vetted non-EU nationals who are frequent travellers to cross borders.
The planned EES would be used to record the time and place of entry and exit of non-EU nationals crossing EU external borders, calculate the duration of their stay and generate an alert when authorised stay periods are exceeded.
The RTP would allow some groups of frequent travellers (e.g. business people,, family members etc.), from third countries to enter the EU, subject to appropriate pre-screening and simplified border checks, including the use of automated gates.
A Smart Borders pilot scheme tested biometric check technology at the main airports in Portugal, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden from March to September 2015.
The Civil Liberties Committee rapporteurs on the Smart Borders Package are Agustín Díaz de Mera (EPP, ES), for the EES, and Tanja Fajon (S&D, SL), for the RTP.
Question for oral answer to Commission and Council
Debate: Wednesday, 28 October
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