Smoother Access to Europe for the Trusted Few

LONDON â€" A European plan to introduce high-tech “Smart Borders” that would give trusted travelers speedy entry to the Continent has been attacked by critics who say its main goal is to keep out immigrants and would-be refugees.

Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for internal affairs, this week announced proposals to introduce electronic swipe cards for regular, pre-screened travelers that would allow them to bypass lengthy passport lines.

The new system would apply to the 25-nation Schengen group, which has abolished internal borders in favor of a single external frontier. Britain is the notable non-member among the 27 E.U. member states.

Ms. Malmström, who is from Sweden, said new technology would enable introduction of a Registered Traveler Program to allow smoother and speedier border entry for third country citizens.

She said the aim was not only to make lifeeasier for foreign visitors but to enhance the European economy. Business travelers and foreigners with close family ties to Europe were among visitors who were likely to visit several times a year.

“Making it as easy as possible for them to come to the E.U. would ensure that Europe remains an attractive destination and help boost economic activity and job creation,” she said when she announced the proposal in Brussels on Thursday.

However, her parallel announcement of a new electronic entry-exit system that would log the stay of all third country nationals has prompted opposition on freedom and privacy grounds.

The system would replace stamps in passports and would automatically alert inter-connected national authorities if visitors exceeded their authorized stays.

Opponents, led by the Green movement in the European Parliament, a body that must approved the measures, say the proposed initiat! ive would create an “e-fortress Europe.”

“We can’t comprehend why visitors to the E.U. are to be fingerprinted, registered and placed under general suspicion - in the same category as felons - when at the same time it’s illegal in Germany to store fingerprint data from Germans,” Ska Keller, a Green parliamentarian told Deutsche Welle.

Ms. Ska, who is German, said the real justification for the Smart Borders package was to prevent an excessive influx of refugees from the Arab world or other regions in crisis.

“In principle, there’s a tendency to now view immigration in terms of national security and to define all immigrants as a risk to that security, which is groundless,” she said.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation, a research institute affiliated with Germany’s Green Party, said in a report last year that the new border control plans would be both expensive and inefficient.

Ben Hayes, the British co-author of the report, said he believed the decision to switch to high-tech border control reflected constant and effective lobbying by the security industry.

“You do not have to be a mathematical genius to figure out that security and technology companies will earn a lot of money if smart border control systems are set up at every border crossing and airport in each of the 27 member states of the European Union,” he said.

Others are skeptical about how many visitors would actually enjoy the benefits of speedier access.

Mathias Vermeulen, an expert in the use of technology in the security sector at The Free University of Brussels, said only about one in 20 visitors would get to use the swipe card system, while the vast majority would face even longer lines! , particu! larly if authorities took visitors’ fingerprints, as now planned.

He told Belgium’s La Libre that there was always a danger in introducing different categories of travelers. “Once you create a trusted traveler list,” he said, “getting on to it will immediately become a priority in terrorist training.”