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EU: EURODAC: By regulation instead of convention

01 January 1999

EURODAC is to put on ice until the Amsterdam Treaty comes into force, (probably in June), according to Michael Klos, a German Ministry of Interior civil servant. His remarks came in reply to questions by Green Party members on the programme of the German EU presidency in the first six months of 1999.

By March 1998 the Council had reached agreement that the new database will not only include fingerprint data on asylum seekers but also on "illegal immigrants", despite the different meanings the term has among the EU member states. This aspect, it was decided, would be formulated in an additional protocol to the convention. According to Klos, the postponement of EURODAC will not change its political content but the mode of decision-making. The Amsterdam Treaty will transfer questions of asylum and migration to the first pillar and the council will produce directives and regulations. EURODAC will be set up by regulation instead of convention and this new mode of decision making will speed up the process.

In the five years after the Treaty comes into force the European parliament may formulate points of view but they will not have any influence if the Council chooses not to listen. Previously conventions had to be ratified by national parliaments, under the new regulations they will be decided by ministers.