Strasbourg, 12 March 2019
Honourable Members,
First of all, I wish to thank the rapporteur – Mr. Coelho – and the shadow rapporteurs for the work done in the LIBE Committee on the proposal we are discussing today.
We all know that every year, millions of non-EU nationals enter the EU with a visa, be it for a short stay or for a longer period.
Most of them are legitimate travellers who fulfil the entry and stay conditions on the territory of the Member States.
The current Visa Information System allows us to check, at the external borders and in the consulates around the world, that these conditions are fulfilled.
There are, however, still some gaps we need to close.
With the new Visa Information System, we will remove blind spots in our systems and give visa authorities and border guards the information they need to do their job properly.
We cannot allow criminals and potential terrorists to enter Europe undetected!
Europe is not a fortress and will never become one, but at the same time, we need to know who is crossing our borders.
Honourable Members,
The Commission welcomes the Parliament’s support on the key objectives of our proposal.
Let me mention the most important ones:
First, the interlinking of the Visa Information System to the Entry-Exit System, ETIAS, the Schengen Information System and ECRIS.
This will help to detect the use of multiple identities and identify anyone posing security risks.
Secondly, to close the information gap on long stay visas and residence permits, which currently is information not shared at EU level.
This will allow guards and migration authorities to quickly determine whether the documents presented to them are valid and whether they are placed in the hands of the persons not entitled to have them.
It will also allow national authorities not to legalise the presence of third country nationals that do not fulfil basic security conditions for entry and stay in the EU -- such as persons with links to known terrorists or organised crime networks.
This will close an important security gap.
And finally, the inclusion of copies of the visa applicant's travel document in the VIS database.
This measure, together with the authorisation for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency staff to have access to the VIS, will facilitate: the identification and the readmission of undocumented irregular migrants, thereby increasing the efficiency of the EU's return policy, notably in relation with third countries refusing to us their cooperation.
In addition to this: to strengthen our capacity to prosecute and prevent crime, law enforcement authorities and Europol will have better access to the VIS for prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or other serious crimes.
Access to the VIS will also be opened to law enforcement authorities for the purpose of searching or identifying missing or abducted persons and victims of trafficking.
This access will always be in full respect of the EU's data protection rules.
The VIS upgrade is part of the ‘smart borders’ package, and it is also part of interoperability – and for that reason, the rationale and foundations of this proposal should be preserved through the legislative process.
That is why I would like to refer to some changes proposed in the report: Firstly, I recall that the inclusion of information on residence permits in the VIS is linked also to the issue of “golden visas”.
While registering all issued permits by Member States in a single EU information system might not solve possible abuse in granting such permits, it provides greater transparency among Member States.
I understand that the Parliament wants to take this measure one-step further and enable the storage and verification in the VIS of these documents from the moment of application, in order to ensure a better control over the issuance process. We look positively at this proposal.
Secondly, regarding the multiple-queries for security and irregular migration checks, the benefits of interoperability should not be watered down by excluding some databases from searches.
We managed to agree that ECRIS and Travel Documents Associated with Notices (TDAWN) are relevant in ETIAS; these should be relevant standards for VIS as well.
It is a matter of coherence and consistency: the standards of verification of the third country nationals that can enter the EU visa-free, should not be tougher than those applied to third country nationals under visa obligation.
Third, the Commission proposed to update the existing law enforcements’ access rules to VIS.
But it is important to ensure that their access remains balanced and not detrimental for the efficiency of the procedure.
For instance, adding the obligation to consult Prüm databases first, will make the access more burdensome.
Fourth, regarding fingerprinting of children, we have to be consistent.
We have proposed to lower the age for fingerprinting because we want to fight child trafficking more effectively.
I am sure this is an objective that we all share. I understand that you are concerned with the fundamental rights of children. And so are we.
Trafficking of children, abduction or smuggling is an abuse of fundamental rights.
Statistics show that annually between 1,500 and 2,000 third country national children below the age of 12 are victims of trafficking in the Schengen area, and between 3,200 – 4,250 for ages between 12 and 17.
Most of these children come from countries that are under visa obligation.
I think we need to make all efforts to tackle this issue and the lowering of the age of fingerprinting provides us with a key tool to achieve concrete results.
I want to close with the most important point for our citizens.
Fundamental rights will be as always at the heart of all our policies, including in the design of our information systems.
All reports on VIS performance indicate that its implementation never led to fundamental rights or data protection concerns.
Not a single complaint has been registered against the VIS in its first 5 years of functioning.
We took those provisions one step further, along the "data protection by design" principle.
We stand ready to work with the co-legislators during trilogues to further improve those standards, but we need to remain effective and not depart from our key objectives.
Thank you.
[Closing remarks]
Honourable Members,
I welcome that within the space of just one year you have managed to reach an agreement with the Council on eu-LISA, SIS, ETIAS and interoperability Regulations.
VIS, together with ETIAS and the Entry Exit System, will together form part of a single platform for third country nationals visiting the EU.
The VIS proposal will close the information gap on long stay documents' holders, as well as a number of security gaps on both short and long stay travellers.
It is therefore extremely important that the systems are synchronised to the largest extent possible.
I strongly believe that the VIS should be swiftly agreed in the next legislature.
I regret that this could not be done already now, but I hope we can start trilogues by the end of September.
We all here remain committed to deliver a Europe that protects and makes our citizens feel safe and secure.
This is why, I warmly encourage you to support the important elements of this legislation tomorrow in the vote, allowing to close the existing security gaps and continue working towards building a safer Union for all citizens.