A more detailed checking of travel documents will now apply not only to nationals of third countries, but also to citizens of the European Union. In addition to visual inspection, all documents will be checked with an optical reader in the available databases: the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Interpol database of stolen and lost documents and data collections of the national police
This a response to the tragic consequences of the terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany which are, among other things, result of lack of data exchange among Member States.
MEP Tonino Picula (SDP/S&D), who worked on this Directive as a shadow rapporteur on behalf of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), stressed that there should not be discrimination between EU Member States and that implementation of the control of passengers must not be misused for political purposes.
"Even though this regulation affects free movement of citizens, we must support the suggestions that give us greater security. I want to point out that implementation will certainly have implications on the waiting time at the border crossings, which is why it is necessary to ensure adequate technical, technological, administrative and other capacities of border control, especially on the most frequent border crossings at the time of holiday. "
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