Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-01-Speech-3-152"
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"en.20041201.15.3-152"2
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".
Mr President, first of all I thank you most warmly for according me the opportunity to express my views on the report and on the amendments to this important draft regulation. May I also congratulate your rapporteur, Mr Coelho, on his valuable contribution to this debate.
Before presenting my remarks, I wish to recall the context of the Commission's proposal. The primary objective of the Member States was not only to improve the quality of documents, but also to establish a reliable link between the holder and the identity document. The aim of this approach was to minimise the dangerous trend of the production of counterfeit documents, which are used to enter the territory of the EU illegally. The approach was confirmed by the Thessaloniki European Council in June 2003.
In September 2003, the Commission presented two proposals introducing biometric identifiers into the uniform format for visas and residence permits for third-country nationals. On 18 February 2004, the Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation on common standards and biometrics in EU citizens’ passports as we were convinced that we cannot only secure documents related to third-country nationals. Otherwise mala fide foreigners could abuse less secure European passports. In its proposal for biometrics in passports, the Commission provided for one mandatory biometric identifier, the digital image, and left the second biometric identifier, fingerprints, optional. When drafting the proposal on passports the Commission was fully aware of the sensitivity of this issue.
On the one hand the EU has to suggest measures enabling Member States to strengthen security and the protection of their citizens; on the other hand the Commission has to take data protection and privacy concerns into careful consideration. At the Council of 25 October 2004, the questions as to whether the second biometric identifier, the fingerprint, should be integrated in a mandatory way, and what the implementation data for the regulation should be, were discussed again. Ministers reached a unanimous political agreement that the first biometric identifier, the facial image, should be implemented at the latest within 18 months and the second biometric identifier, should also be mandatory at the latest 36 months after the adoption of the technical specifications.
This political decision could help Member States to issue identity documents capable of establishing a reliable and direct link with all others. In this context it is equally important to underscore that the two biometric identifiers, digital image and fingerprints, should be used to reduce the production of counterfeit documents, not to interfere in the private lives of EU citizens.
As regards the timing, the European Council in its conclusions on terrorism of 26 March, set the end of 2004 as the date for the adoption of the proposals and the technical specifications. We are actively moving things forward. Our technical committee has made an early start on its preparatory work on the technical aspects regarding the integration of the biometric identifier into the visa and the residence permit. Also, the measurement work for the passport has already been completed.
The technical specifications have to be adopted by the Commission via the comitology procedure after the Council has adopted the regulation, which constitutes their legal basis."@en1
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