mr president firstly i would like to thank mr coelho for his excellent work
although we all have different political opinions he did his best in order to achieve a compromise
the verts ale group strongly opposes the extensive introduction of biometrics until its necessity is proven beyond a reasonable doubt
we believe that it has crucial implications for personal data safety and for fundamental rights
we voted against biometrics in visas
we are also against biometrics in european passports
we see the current proposal as a possible way of establishing limits for fingerprinting people for a travel document
therefore we are satisfied that the compromise with the commission and the council is achieved the age limit of twelve years is established for those member states where fingerprinting of children does not take place and the age limit of six years is established for other member states
i would like to stress once again that our support for age limits does not mean that we support fingerprinting as such
we strongly believe that biometrics in passports can be used only for verifying the authenticity of the document or the identity of the holder
use of such data for other purposes such as law enforcement is neither legitimate nor proportional
we cannot agree that everyone holding the european passport is a usual suspect whose fingerprints are to be stored
that is our position but i would like to stress once more than we congratulate mr coelho and the commission and council on this compromise
