Civil Liberties Committee Ministers of European Parliament (MEP) on Tuesday called for the addition of non-European Union (EU) nationals to the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) that EU countries use to exchange information on the criminal convictions of EU citizens.
The committee supported the proposal by a vote of 45-2, with four abstentions. The new directive is a key measure under the European Agenda on Security and an important tool for fighting cross-border crime and terrorism.
“We need to restore public confidence that we are able to monitor who comes into the EU, and to find people who could represent a threat,” Timothy Kirkhope, minister of parliament in the EU, said. “Checking people against our existing criminal records databases, and making exchanging that information much easier, will go a long way towards showing that we can find those people who mean us harm, amongst the vast majority who do not.”
MEPs also recommended that member states should be able to use the ECRIS system to pass on information relating to terrorist offenses from a third country. MEPs is also recommending that EU police and Frontex have access to the system.
After a vote on the draft report, the committee began three-way talks with member states and the commission.