EU to give bug-ridden Schengen upgrade one last chance

Brussels - The European Union is to give the bug-ridden computer system at the heart of the Schengen border-free area one last chance when interior ministers meet in Luxembourg on Thursday. The so-called 'Schengen Information System II' (SIS II), meant to come online in September, has fallen so far behind schedule that some EU states want it to be scrapped in favour of a less ambitious system, dubbed 'SIS I+ RE'. But according to a draft document seen by the German Press Agency dpa, the Czech government, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, wants the ministers to set SIS II's developers two final deadlines - 'milestones' - for hitting key goals, and to keep SIS I+ RE ready in case they fail. 'The development of SIS II will continue on the basis of the current SIS II project, and SIS I+ RE will be retained as the contingency plan ... until the tests defined in the milestones are accomplished,' the draft decision says. If the developers fail to meet those milestones, the EU will scrap the SIS II project. The first test is set for the autumn, with the final test due for late 2010, EU diplomats said. The Schengen area was created in 1995 to abolish systematic border checks between European states. To compensate for the reduction in security, Schengen states set up a joint database - SIS I - allowing them to exchange key data on travellers arriving in the area. When the EU took in 10 new members in 2004, officials decided that it was the perfect opportunity to create the new, higher-tech SIS II. But the programme was beset by technical problems, with computers in EU member states unable to communicate with the central database. In the end, the new members were brought into Schengen in 2007 under a hastily cobbled-together upgrade of SIS I which is still in use. The ministers are also expected to discuss how to share information if their countries take in former inmates of the Guantanamo Bay prison, and how to deal with the rising tide of illegal migration in the Mediterranean.