Jun 4, 2009, 13:54 GMT
Luxembourg - The European Union on Thursday agreed to give a bug-ridden upgrade to the computer system underpinning the bloc's border-free zone one last chance, despite time and cost overruns.
The so-called 'Schengen Information System II' (SIS II) has fallen so far behind schedule that some EU states want it to be scrapped in favour of a less ambitious system.
But EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed to give the companies developing SIS II a last chance to make the project work, EU diplomats said.
If the companies fail to reach set technical 'milestones' in the autumn and in late 2010, the project will be scrapped unless EU member states agree otherwise, ministers agreed.
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.
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