Pay attention to biometric surveillance, digital ID says Sweden’s EU presidency

The Swedish Presidency of the European Council wants the EU’s digital policies to do more for the bloc’s security and reduce risks, reports Statewatch on seeing a discussion paper released by the Presidency.

“The Presidency wishes to underline the importance to internal security of several ongoing discussions and legislative negotiations on digital files,” states the document.

It urges COSI, the Council’s internal security committee, to continue to monitor the developments of the concepts as the criminal underworld becomes increasingly adept: “General digital policy developments need also to benefit the JHA sector while addressing and minimising the associated risks.” JHA or the Justice and Home Affairs Agencies network is made up of the likes of Frontex and Europol.

The document warns stakeholders that concepts have developed beyond their original scopes through negotiation and that there are significant levels of disagreement between European bodies on how they should proceed.

For example with the AI Act, “It is likely that the European Parliament’s position will diverge significantly from the Council mandate on a range of issues, including crucial ones (e.g. Article 5 on the ban of real-time remote biometric identification).”

For the European digital identity proposals, the discussion paper summarizes the events so far and explains how scope has spread enabling people to verify other people’s ID or that of businesses and a potential European Digital Identity Board for advice.

The Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) voted earlier in February that government digital identity wallets should be provided as options for residents of each member state.

Article Topics

AI Act  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Europe  |  legislation  |  real-time biometrics  |  video surveillance