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The issue, discussed publicly for the first time on Thursday, threatens to sour talks on the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU, despite hopes on both sides for close ties in fighting crime and terrorism.
Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch liberal MEP, told the European parliament’s justice and home affairs committee that a leaked EU report revealed “deliberate violations and abuse” by the UK of the Schengen Information System, a vast database used by police and border guards across the EU’s border-free Schengen zone.
While the UK is not a member of the border-free travel area, it has negotiated access to the database, where authorities across Europe share more than 76m items of information on criminal suspects, missing people or contraband goods.
“This is a country that is not a member of Schengen because it doesn’t want to be a member of Schengen,” In ’t Veld told MEPs. “It doesn’t want to be a member of the European Union. Nevertheless, in the kindness of our hearts we have given them access to the Schengen Information System and they behaved like a bunch of cowboys.”
The MEP, who has tabled a complaint to the European commission, said “one of the most astonishing” features of the leaked report was “the lack of reciprocity” from British authorities to act in the interest of EU counterparts.
“What the report says is that [British authorities] are basically only interested in people coming into the UK,” she told the Guardian. “People going out of the UK – if there is an alert, they are not warning the European authorities, so we are not safer.”
The leaked EU report states that British border guards only act on alerts “the UK considers to be important”, meaning some checks on people and documents requested by other member states are not carried out. Another charge is that the UK “does not always take action” if someone wanted for arrest is leaving the UK. British police, according to the report, are trained only to seize contraband goods relating to crimes committed on UK soil, not those in other EU member states. [...]