REPORT on the draft Council decision on the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Schengen Information System in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic
23.5.2007 - (9032/2007 – C6‑0119/2007 – 2007/0806(CNS)) - *
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Rapporteur: Carlos Coelho
DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION
on the draft Council decision on the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Schengen Information System in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic
(9032/2007 – C6‑0119/2007 - 2007/0806(CNS))
(Consultation procedure)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the draft Council decision (9032/2007)[1]
– having regard to Article 3(2) of the Act of Accession[2], pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6‑0119/2007),
– having regard to the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European Union,
– having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6‑0204/2007),
1. Approves the draft Council decision;
2. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;
3. Calls on the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the text submitted for consultation substantially;
4. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
BACKGROUND:
The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a large-scale database, which operates with a joint information system enabling the relevant authorities in the Member States to cooperate and exchange information, something which is essential to establishing an area without checks at its internal borders. The system comprises details of individuals and objects, which can be used by the relevant authorities, especially within the context of police and court cooperation on crime, as well as for checking individuals at external frontiers or on national territory, and for issuing visas and residence permits.
In other words, it is a sine qua non for eliminating checks at internal borders.
SCHENGEN II INFORMATION SYSTEM
The decision to create a new SIS II stemmed from the realisation that new functionalities needed to be implemented within the System (reinforcing security and making more efficient use of data), and that the new Member States needed to be integrated likewise, since the essential system (C-SIS) was technically incapable of serving more than 18 countries.
On 6 December 2001 the Council mandated the Commission to develop SIS II, which was scheduled to begin operating in March 2007.
In September 2006, the Commission announced that due to countless delays, it would be technically impossible to adhere to the original schedule, and that the system would therefore not start operating on the scheduled date. The timetable was duly revised, and at the Art.36 Committee meeting on 25.01.07, the Commission submitted a revised timetable providing for SIS II to become operational by 17.12.2008.
SISone4ALL
The delays experienced in launching the new system, in tandem with constant on-going technological developments, have in the meantime made it necessary to renew the central System, so as not to endanger its operationality, and to secure reliable maintenance contracts, since the machines and some of the software components used by the central System had become obsolete.
A more updated version of SIS (SIS I+R) was developed in 2006, replacing the C-SIS machines, and implementing a solution which was more up-to-date in communications terms with a view to improving the system, and including the possibility of connecting up fresh countries.
Given the enormous discontent voiced by the new Member States, the Portuguese Government decided to put forward a proposal which could provide a technical transitional solution, allowing the new Member States to be connected to the SIS in 2007.
At the informal Tampere Council on 21 and 22 September, the so-called 'SISone4ALL' was announced; basically, it consists of cloning Portugal's national system (N-SIS), the idea being to offer it to the new Member States and to assist them in implementing it, so that it should be possible to connect them to the Central System (C-SIS) by December 2007.
This means that during this transition period, nine Member States (not including Cyprus) and Portugal, will share an identical N-SIS, developed as a one-off, and once it has been cloned at zero cost it will be installed in all those new Member States which so wish. The new Member States will have to invest in the machines themselves which, according to the technical experts, should be able to be redeployed later for SIS II.
At the moment, the new N-SIS developed by Portugal has already been tested with the C-SIS, and has been validated. Furthermore, the clone has already been installed in one new Member State; Slovenia has already carried out tests with the C-SIS, but is still waiting for the results of the system's validation.
It is expected that the project will be technically ready on 31 August 2007, following the migration of the 'old' Member States and the integration of the 'new' Member States. Following the SIS assessment of the new Member States, it is expected that those who obtain a positive result will have their land and sea borders opened by 31 January 2008, and their air frontiers on 29 March 2008.
The additional costs for SIS I + ensuing from the implementation of SISone4ALL are put around EUR 2.13 million in the Council Conclusions.
The calculations assumed that 24 States would participate in SISone4All, and 28 States in SIS II.
POSITION OF THE RAPPORTEUR
The EP's traditional position, as expressed over the last two years, has always been to guarantee the definite inclusion of the SIS in the Community and EU legal system; Parliament has rejected any alternative whereby SIS would continue to function on an intergovernmental basis. For this reason, Parliament has also unequivocally supported the establishment of SIS II.
Parliament made a major effort to reach agreement at first reading with regard to SIS II's legal basis, so as not to contribute further to the delays affecting the implementation of SIS II[1].
Your rapporteur believes that the development of SIS II is - and must continue to be - the absolute priority. The technical experts claim that the implementation of SISone4All does not imply any further delays in implementing SIS II, and have even said that the former might constitute a contribution to speeding up the procedure, since the bulk of the investment made by the new Member States in SISone 4All will be exploited within the context of SIS II, e.g. the establishment of SIRENE offices, the establishment of N-SIS departments, plus border cooperation mechanisms, work on the requisite adaptations on the external borders, etc.
This temporary solution rests on the same legal basis as that of the current SIS, namely the Schengen Agreement, and is likewise intergovernmentally funded.
Your rapporteur therefore recommends that this initiative be approved, and supports the Council taking a decision on the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the SIS for the new Member States. This means that it will not be for lack of access to SIS that any Member State will be deprived of full participation in the Schengen Area, as soon as all the requisite conditions for abolishing checks at internal borders (Schengen Assessment) have been met.
Your rapporteur stresses that the possibility of connecting a Member State to the SIS is an essential precondition for full integration into the Schengen Area, but it is not in itself enough.
Security within the Community area obliges all partners strictly and efficiently to meet the requisite demands in terms of external border checks. If this objective is overlooked, it jeopardises the security of the entire Schengen Area.
The present Decision is just a first step. The final step should be taken once the SIS assessments are concluded (they should begin on 16 September 2007, and the hope is that they will be completed by November 2007). We expect Parliament to be consulted at that point on the Decision concerning the lifting of checks at internal borders.
- [1] see Report PE A6-0413/2006.
PROCEDURE
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Title |
Application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Schengen Information System in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia |
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References |
9032/2007 - C6-0119/2007 - 2007/0806(CNS) |
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Date of consulting Parliament |
2.5.2007 |
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Committee responsible Date announced in plenary |
LIBE 10.5.2007 |
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Rapporteur(s) Date appointed |
Carlos Coelho 8.5.2007 |
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Date adopted |
21.5.2007 |
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Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
27 0 5 |
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Members present for the final vote |
Alexander Alvaro, Giusto Catania, Mladen Petrov Chervenyakov, Carlos Coelho, Fausto Correia, Panayiotis Demetriou, Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Claudio Fava, Kinga Gál, Patrick Gaubert, Lilli Gruber, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Magda Kósáné Kovács, Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler, Barbara Kudrycka, Stavros Lambrinidis, Henrik Lax, Kartika Tamara Liotard, Sarah Ludford, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Martine Roure, Károly Ferenc Szabó, Søren Bo Søndergaard, Adina-Ioana Vălean, Ioannis Varvitsiotis, Manfred Weber, Tatjana Ždanoka |
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Substitute(s) present for the final vote |
Inés Ayala Sender, Iratxe García Pérez, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Bill Newton Dunn, Rainer Wieland |
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