New visa database system for EU
The European Union approved yesterday a European visa data system which will store biometric information such as fingerprints and photos of the 70 million visa holders who pass through EU borders. The agreement reached by EU justice and interior ministers will set up a common database which can be assessed by all 15 nations, including Greece, participating in the so-called Schengen borderless travel area. EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said that EU nations «are to make the visa information system operational by spring 2009» in what will be the world’s largest database of its kind. One country will be able to know if someone had already been granted or denied a visa in another, and whether the person had overstayed their time in the bloc. The data will be stored for five years and police will be able to consult the database on a case-by-case basis. However, non-EU nations such as the United States, a key anti-terror partner for the EU, will not have access to the system, officials said. The plan, however, has triggered data privacy concerns. EU interior ministers were unable to set out the regulatory framework that would set out common EU rules on data protection in police matters. The ministers agreed to meet in Luxembourg by the end of the year on the matter.
