Biometric ID set for backing from ministers

By Martin Banks

EU JUSTICE ministers are next week set to back plans to introduce biometric identification for their citizens' passports, possibly from as early as 2006.

Interior ministers of the five biggest EU member states, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy agreed at an informal meeting in Florence on Monday (18 October) to include biometric indicators, such as facial recognition or fingerprints, in passports.

Their colleagues from other EU nations are expected to give their blessing to the proposal when the issue is discussed at a Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday (25-26 October).

As it is a Schengen-related issue, agreement is also necessary from three non-EU countries - Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, which are members of the Schengen area - but this is expected to be a formality, according to a Council of Ministers insider.

He said that there was “broad consensus” among member states on the issue of biometric passports, the only possible difference concerned the date of introduction.

The facial feature element on passports could be introduced within 18 months of the adoption of a regulation, which, he said, is expected by the end of this year.

But, because of “technical” problems, it could be three years before fingerprints appear on the new-look passports.

The move has been prompted by the United States warning that it will start demanding visas from 27 countries - mostly EU member states - from 26 October 2005 if they do not have biometric data on their passports.

The security requirements were drafted in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in the US.

Ministers are also expected to reach agreement on the so-called multi-annual programme, which sets out priorities in the field of justice and home affairs for the next five years. The programme will be forwarded to the European Council of 5 November for endorsement.

The Council will also be presented with an interim report by the EU's Dutch presidency on anti-terrorism efforts undertaken by member states.

Although it is not on next week's Council agenda, the controversial issue of asylum-processing camps in north Africa is likely to be discussed in the margins of the meeting.

France and Spain combined this week to derail plans mooted by Italy, Germany and the UK, which had pushed the idea as a method of combating the flow of migrants from Libya to the Italian coast.

An insider said that the three governments that back the plan must now decide whether to shelve it, to try to win the backing of a total of eight governments and move forward as a group of EU nations or to pursue it outside an EU framework.

At an informal meeting in Florence on 18 October 2004 Interior Ministers of the five biggest EU Member States, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy agreed to include biometric indicators, such as facial recognition or fingerprints, in passports, possibly from as early as 2006. Article says that EU Justice Ministers were set to back the plans at the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 25-26 October 2004.