Posted on 01/03/2012 11:27:56 AM PST by Olog-hai
The Dutch interior ministry has said new cameras for screening people who enter the country by car will not violate EU laws on free movement or privacy.
In what looks like a fresh attack on the Schengen passport-free travel agreement, the pilot schemeentitled "@migo-Boras"is to see 19 million worth of cameras installed on 15 major highways from Belgium and Germany and in some police cars between February and April.
Dutch interior minister Gerd Leers said in a written statement in December the system "falls within the existing rules for border control and privacy."
He added: "The cameras will not constitute a permanent border. They only support the work of the Royal Military Police ... Since limitations (on travel) have been lifted in the European Schengen area, the surveillance system does not have the character of the former border."
The scheme has attracted criticism in German media.
Frank Richter, the head of the German police union, the GdP, told the German press agency the system puts "all travelers under general suspicion." Socialist politician Angelica Schwall-Duren said she has asked The Hague for clarification on how the number plate data will be stored.
For his part, Leers added that the European Commission has also quietly made enquiries and that he will file a report to Brussels.
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
The Netherlands has many backroads that border Germany which anyone can take via a car that wont be monitored.
Oh, good grief, I am confessing I really need to always wear my glasses to read the computer screen, I thought the headline was:
Neanderthals defends border control project
But you do raise an interesting question..
Are the Dutch sub-human?..
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