ETIAS, the Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System, is a travel authorisation for non-EU citizens who do not need a visa for the European Schengen Zone.
The ETIAS system will improve border controls and protect against security and health risks that come with the visa-free policy.
However, it has been stipulated that ETIAS could be used as a part of a common EU Intelligence Agency which would help the European Union determine risks concerning terrorism given the augmented occurrences in recent years.
WHAT IS THE COMMON EU INTELLIGENCE AGENCY?
In addition to the Schengen Information System, the Visa Information System, the EU entry-exit system (EES) and the European Criminal Records and Information System, ETIAS is being reviewed by the database host agency eu-Lisa as a possible system to be included in the common EU Intelligence Agency.
The notion of the common EU Intelligence Agency and the idea of combining existing European-wide resources comes in response to many European politician’s concerns regarding security threats and terrorist attacks.
It is understood as an alternative to creating a new agency from scratch, which would be very problematic for the European Union due to the secretive nature of national intelligence agencies and the many political and legislative obstacles.
This proposal would allow various European authorities to access biometric and identifiable information of citizens and travelers at the touch of a button as the service would search several databases at once.
The aim would be to use the information provided for ETIAS in addition to other information systems to ensure higher levels of security and avoid any future terrorist acts on European soil from external protagonists.
HOW WILL THE ETIAS COMPLEMENT EUROPEAN UNION INTELLIGENCE?
The ETIAS visa waiver scheme will allow those citizens from countries who do not require a visa to travel to Europe to apply quickly and easily online for a travel authorization to visit any of the Schengen area countries.
ETIAS will allow EU authorities to screen the applicants who wish to travel to the Schengen zone of Europe, improving security and quickening the process of border control when you enter and leave the EU.
At time of writing, the ETIAS plans only to gather personal information such as name, date of birth, residence as well as travel document details and ask some basic security questions.
The EU does not plan to use biometric data such as fingerprinting or eye scans in the ETIAS application process, thus, were the plans for a common Intelligence Agency to go ahead, ETIAS would only be used to supply travel information.
