Germany Pushes Initiative to Share Police Database
The European Union is pressing forward with integration initiatives. Justice and interior ministers from across the EU have agreed to pursue a plan to integrate police databases among EU member states. It is hoped that the initiative will help cross-border investigations, but also aid in tracking terrorist and illegal immigrants. Financial Times reported January 16,
The German government said it had won agreement in principle to press forward with a formal proposal in February from all EU member states, despite reservations over the costs and legal basis for the idea expressed by countries including Britain, Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Wolfgang Schäuble, the German interior minister, said: “Our aim is to create a modern police information network for more effective crime control throughout Europe.”
Officials envision expanding the number of existing nations collaborating together from seven today, to all 27 European Union members. The success of the initiative looks hopeful, as Schäuble said it shared a “broad consensus” among the 27 members.
As planned, the initiative will grant law enforcement officials from across the EU access to genetic records, fingerprints and other pertinent information stored on other member databases.
The motive for the initiative appears to be rooted in the notion that the EU faces a high degree of external threats, like illegal immigration and terror, requiring comprehensive collaboration among pan-European law enforcement. Whatever might be said about differences dividing Europe at the federal level, initiatives that drive greater EU infrastructural unity are humming along as if Europe is a bona fide, constitutional power.
Schäuble plans to have the pact signed and in place before the end of Germany’s six-month presidency in June. Germany has adopted a “can do” attitude in its new presidential role. The intiative to unite member states’ police databases, making them accessible to all European Union member states, is one of many projects Germany hopes to complete during its tenure in an effort to demonstrate its ability to get things done and done right—in stark contrast to what has generally been a European leadership void.