Belgium wants passenger data of bus and train travellers from Great Britain

The EU directive on the use of passenger data requires airlines and other travel providers to provide personal data to the competent authorities before each trip. Belgium is the first EU Member State to apply this to land-based means of transport.

The Belgian government has decided to extend its passenger data system to coach and rail travel. This is what the International Railway Journal writes. It is therefore initially a test phase. According to an agreement with the British government, Belgian authorities receive the data of passengers using the Eurostar long-distance train, which runs between Brussels and London in the tunnel under the English Channel, before each arrival. Flixbus is the first bus company to take part in the exchange of passenger data. It is unclear whether the travel agencies in which the bus and train journeys are booked are also obliged to transmit the data. Belgium wants passenger data of bus and train travellers from Great Britain weiterlesen

The European Border Intelligence Service

With EUROSUR, the EU Commission has a powerful border surveillance system at its disposal. It brings together reconnaissance data from aircraft, drones and soon also aerostatic balloons. Based on the images, a Frontex unit then decides on further measures in the „pre-frontier area“.

The EU border agency Frontex has launched a series of new surveillance methods in the Mediterranean. This was written by EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos in response to several questions from MEP Sabine Lösing. The capabilities are part of the EUROSUR border surveillance system launched by the European Union five years ago. It links the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw with the border authorities of the 28 Member States. Through their national coordination centres, Frontex is informed of all important incidents at the external borders of the European Union. According to the latest figures, around 148,000 irregular migration incidents have been reported since EUROSUR was set up, and around 33,000 have concerned organised crime. The European Border Intelligence Service weiterlesen

More tanks for German police

After the special forces, riot police forces of the Länder and the Federal Police now also receive modern armoured vehicles. Defence companies compete with models weighing up to 15 tons.

Several dozen police stations in Germany will be equipped with new wheeled tanks. The riot police of the federal states receive 45 modern vehicles for the first time, the Federal Police increases its stock by ten. According to the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, these are „protected“ off-road vehicles and passenger transport vehicles. Parliamentary State Secretary Stefan Mayer calls them „Sonderwagen 5“ („Special Car“, SW 5), but the Federal Police no longer wants to use this term.

With this major order, the Ministry wants to replace the „Sonderwagen 4“ (SW 4), which has been used by the Federal Government and the Länder since 1984. Its manufacturer, the Kassel-based armaments group Thyssen Henschel, which has since been taken over by Rheinmetall, has long ceased production. The Federal Police use the old wheeled tanks only at airports, where they are partly armed with a machine gun. All other SW4s were sold to the Bundeswehr and Macedonia. More tanks for German police weiterlesen

EU police show little interest in processing passenger data

Once called for as an indispensable tool in the fight against terrorism, the implementation of the EU directive on the use of passenger data is slow.

The „Passenger Name Records“ (PNR) package adopted over two years ago should have been transposed into national law by all Member States by 25 May this year. However, a considerable number of governments have not yet reported this to the Commission. This was confirmed by EU Internal Affairs Commissioner Julian King at a hearing in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). Previously, the civil rights organisation Statewatch had also reported on this.

According to the Directive, airlines, travel agencies and other operators have to transmit extensive personal data of their customers to the competent authorities before each trip. They are stored there for five years. These approximately 60 individual data fields include information on the itinerary, passengers, stopovers, hotels booked or rental cars. All booking information is processed, including e-mail address, billing address, travel agent responsible, languages of minors on the flight, food preferences or a doctorate. EU police show little interest in processing passenger data weiterlesen

Schengen searches to be extended

Persons listed in the Schengen Information System may, inter alia, be observed or searched by the police. The numbers of these Article 36 alerts are increasing rapidly and are now being explained for the first time in detail. A new category „inquiry check“ is planned in the new regulation for the police database.

At the end of 2017, the Schengen Information System (SIS II) listed 129,412 persons in accordance with Article 36 of the SIS II Council Decision, compared with 96,108 the year before. 96,108 the article allows, on the one hand, listings for a „discreet check“, which the police officers should proceed discreetly and of which the persons concerned should not know anything. On the other hand, there is also the possiblity for a „specific check“, during which the wanted person, his/her luggage or the vehicle in which he/she travels, are searched. Schengen searches to be extended weiterlesen

European military drones to fly alongside civilian aircraft

Until now, army drones fly in segregated airspace, but soon they will also be allowed for civil airspace. For this purpose, military companies are developing automatic avoid systems. The „Eurodrone“ will be the first to implement this as standard; in Germany, the „Triton“ spy drone may be faster.

The European defence companies Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo want to develop the armed „Eurodrone“ to production readiness by 2025. The medium-altitude-long-endurance drone (MALE) should then be flown by the Bundeswehr and other armies of the EU. In Germany, military drones have so far been operating exclusively in specially reserved airspaces. That could change soon: The Eurodrone is to be fully integrated into the so-called controlled airspace. European military drones to fly alongside civilian aircraft weiterlesen