PRAGUE (AFP) — European Union nations set Thursday a deadline to upgrade the massive security database for Europe's border-free zone, failing which the multi-million euro modifications could be abandoned.
The Schengen Information System II (SIS II), named after the 25-nation Schengen open travel area, was due to be running in 2007 but has been plagued by technical woes.
The setback poses problems for the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the no-border area, while Britain is concerned that foreign workers coming to London to prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games may not be properly screened.
"The result will be: we dismantle all the problems, the SIS II works, and there is a fixed date when it's over," said Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency until June 30.
"Or, at the end of our presidency, the result will be that the problems are so serious that we have to follow the contingency plan," he told reporters in Prague, after hosting talks with his EU counterparts.
That plan is to be drawn up by May by experts from member nations.
"I hope that three or four months is enough to be able to find a solution," Langer said.
Some 28 million euros (37 million dollars) have been spent on the project, which he described as "the life-blood of European security", since 2002, and Austria led calls Thursday for funding for the improvements to end.
"It is unacceptable to put money into developing this if the future of the project is not clear," Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.
A further 40 million euros have been earmarked for the system, which would link information gathered by police in 25 nations, including Norway, Iceland and Switzerland outside the EU.
"We have to think about stopping this system on which we have already wasted millions of euros," complained one EU diplomat, on condition of anonymity.
However France urged caution due to the importance of the security system.
"We have to be very cautious, to only move forward in a way that is technically certain and we have to be careful not to leave any other member behind," said French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
Langer, chairing his first EU ministerial under the Czech presidency, described it as "a very tough debate, there were very critical views expressed."
"Some wanted to bring (the project) to an end," he added.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has come under increasing pressure to draw up a new more precise schedule for completion, now that the latest September 2009 deadline appears certain to over-run.
EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot insisted that enlargement of the no-borders area could go ahead without the modifications, but that the members could be deprived of access to biometric security data and EU-wide alerts.
Bulgaria and Romania are set to enter in 2011.
But Barrot, who has come under intense pressure over the delays, and was even blamed for the hold-up by Austria, said: "We are now well-armed to find a solution."
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