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The EU is debating whether to extend the automated exchange of police and border management data to trusted third countries, including candidates for EU membership. The Netherlands wants a mechanism to shut it down if political circumstances change.
The Dutch push comes alongside a separate debate on institutional safeguards that could suspend the voting rights of new members for up to 15 years after accession over serious breaches of European values and rules.
“It is important that future agreements specify the grounds on which such an agreement could be terminated, for example in the event that a trusted third-country undergoes a radical change of regime,” reads the Dutch government’s comments, obtained by Euronews.
They respond to a European Commission proposal to extend the Prüm framework, which allows automated exchange of police data such as DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data, to trusted third countries.
The Commission explicitly suggests a list of trusted countries: the UK, Canada, Schengen associates such as Norway and Iceland, and candidate countries from the Western Balkans, plus Ukraine and Moldova.
“It is important to hold thorough discussions on the criteria that any prospective ‘trusted’ third country would be expected to meet. In addition, with a view to EU enlargement, it may be worthwhile to also consider EU candidate countries when identifying ‘trusted’ third countries, where adequate safeguards are in place,” the Dutch commentary reads.
The Netherlands has been spearheading the push for stronger safeguards for new member states to avoid a repeat of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. The Commission picked up the idea in its flagship enlargement strategy presented earlier this week.
For The Hague, any agreement to exchange such sensitive information with trusted partners must uphold EU principles on data protection and fundamental rights, and must not go beyond what member states share among themselves.
“In addition, it is important that member states are able to continue to carefully assess whether, and under what conditions, data originating from member states in EU information systems are shared with third countries,” the comments continue.
In the same document, which collects comments from several EU countries, Slovakia also said priority should go to Schengen associates and EU candidates.
Bratislava argued that “trusted third countries should be limited to those that actively cooperate on returns and readmissions, provide reliable and verifiable information, and have a long-standing cooperation with member states and EU agencies.”
Germany and Belgium, meanwhile, warned against moving too fast on the international extension, as the current exchange system still falls short of optimal performance and faces significant bottlenecks.