Eurodac: Member States want wider police access to biometric database despite most having never made use of it

Abstract:

A European Commission proposal to expand the Eurodac biometric database has provided the perfect opportunity for national interior ministries to demand that police forces be able to obtain asylum-seekers’ and irregular migrants’ data more easily, despite the fact that half of all Member States do "not yet have experience with law enforcement access" to the system, according to an official document obtained by Statewatch.  Proposed amendments simplifying and broadening law enforcement access now form part of the Council’s mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the proposed new Eurodac Regulation.