GENEVA (Reuters) – Finger-printing and registering all refugees reaching Europe would keep out Islamist militants bent on attacks, the European Commission’s deputy chief said yesterday in response to concerns raised in some EU countries.
The top UN refugee official said any militant would be more likely to fly into Europe on a false passport than pay thousands to people smugglers to risk a dangerous sea journey to the continent and then discovery through finger-printing.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said the European Union could better handle a record influx of refugees and migrants by improving protection of its external borders and ensuring people not entitled to asylum are sent back.
Timmermans, asked about how to ensure militants do not enter the refugee flow and pose threats to the EU, a concern raised by immigration-wary authorities in some member states, told a news briefing: “Simply by finger-printing people on arrival.
“If done properly you can filter out the terrorists. What I don’t like is that some people use this argument against all refugees from everywhere, (saying), ‘But terrorists will arrive among them’,” he said.
“That is the lamest excuse that is being used for not taking your international responsibility,” Timmermans added. “If we do our jobs and we make sure as soon as people arrive they are finger-printed and identified, then that problem doesn’t exist.”
Timmermans added however that he did not believe militants would join the refugee stream if they knew they would be fingerprinted on arrival. Better protecting the EU’s external frontiers was ultimately the best security step, he said in earlier remarks to the UNHCR’s executive committee.
