Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1057934
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2018 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA EU ambassadors have agreed to introduce tighter security on member states' identity cards and residence documents for EU citi- zens and non-EU family members. The plan is to improve the security of ID cards by introducing minimum standards on the information contained in them and on se- curity features common to all member states. The Council presidency, now held by Aus- tria, will negotiate the rules with the European Parliament once the latter adopts a position on the security standards. Under the proposed new rules, identity cards will have to be produced in a uniform, credit card format that will make them machine- readable, and follow the minimum security standards set out by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). They will also need to include a photo and two fingerprints of the cardholder, stored in a digital format, on a contactless chip. The proposed rules do not require member states to introduce identity cards or residence documents if they are not foreseen under na- tional law. ID cards will have a maximum period of va- lidity of 10 years. Existing identity cards which do not meet the requirements will stop being valid 10 years after the new rules or at their expiry, whichever is earlier. The least secure cards which do not meet the minimum secu- rity standards or do not have a machine-read- able zone will expire within five years. The proposed rules also specify the mini- mum information to be contained in residence documents issued to EU citizens, and will har- monise the format for residence cards of non- EU members of families of EU citizens. In April the Commission put forward the proposal that would see ID cards across the union include fingerprints and facial recogni- tion, as has already been rolled out with pass- ports. But at the time Malta was not support- ing the measures. Malta is one of 16 countries where citizens are obliged to provide their fingerprints for ID cards. But a harmonised system will cost mil- lions of euros to upgrade to new ID cards. The new system could allow law enforce- ment authorities better access to bank account information inside national centralised regis- tries, as well as better sharing of information between national Financial Intelligence Units. The civil liberties NGO Statewatch has ar- gued that the measures are unwarranted. "The introduction of some mandatory EU-wide standards for identity cards may well be jus- tified – but the proposal to fingerprint 175 million people as part of that is irrelevant and unjustified." The NGO insists Brussels has not sufficiently demonstrated that biometric ID documents are justifiable for security reasons. EU ministers move towards harmonised ID card system Maltese identity cards will require new upgrade for machine-readable, contactless chip format Workers a priority for the PN, Delia tells activists PD aligns itself with Caruana Galizia family over call for public inquiry Arrests after police find 20kg cannabis in vehicle from Sicily PEOPLE and workers are a priority for the Nationalist Party, Adrian Delia said as he hit out at what he described as Joseph Muscat's yardstick to calculate wealth by how big the population grows. "Joseph Muscat uses only numbers to measure wealth; if the population grows, for him the economy would have grown as well but this does not tell you if people are liv- ing better," Delia said this morning as he addressed a seminar organised by the party's workers solidarity movement. The PN leader insisted the country needed a long-term plan if government persisted in bringing over 15,000 for- eign workers every year. "The increase of foreign workers is causing a rise in cheap labour, where wages remain low and work condi- tions are eroded," Delia said. He insisted that financial poverty increased by 10,000 people in five years and many families were not making ends meet. The Opposition leader said the government was cheating people out of higher electric- ity bills as a result of the gas power station. THE Democratic Party wants an independent inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder to be conducted by a panel composed of individu- als with no political or gov- ernment links. The PD said that such a panel could also include "re- spected international judges" to ensure impartiality. PD leader Godfrey Farru- gia said the party supported the legal opinion given to the Caruana Galizia family that such an inquiry should be set up in line with the Euro- pean Convention of Human Rights. To this end, the PD is op- posed to the Nationalist Party's parliamentary motion calling for an inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder because it calls on the Prime Minister to set it up. "As it stands, we are op- posed to the PN's motion be- cause it falls short of the re- quired standard, but remain committed to identifying so- lutions," Farrugia said. He added that the PD would be making its own proposal over the course of the coming days and invited "all members of Parliament of goodwill to come forward and work to- gether in a spirit of national unity to deliver the lasting change this country needs". On Friday, international hu- man rights lawyers represent- ing the Caruana Galizia fam- ily gave the Prime Minister a final notice, asking him to set up an independent inquiry as outlined by the human rights convention. Failure to do so would result in a court case being opened. The government has so far rejected calls for a separate inquiry into the murder, in- sisting this was not necessary at this stage while investiga- tions were still going on. Three men stand accused with Caruana Galizia's mur- der but police investigations and a magisterial inquiry are ongoing in a bid to iden- tify the people who commis- sioned the assassination. SEVEN men, six of whom are Italian, were arrested over the past 24 hours after a coordi- nated drug bust between the police and the customs de- partment. The six Italians live in Sic- ily while the Maltese man lives in Birkirkara. The police said the ages of those arrested vary between 23 and 51. The men are currently be- ing interrogated at the police depot. They were arrested after a number of inspections were carried out on vehicles that had just arrived in Malta by catamaran from Pozzallo in Sicily. In one of the vehicles that was stopped in Birkirkara, the police found 20kg of can- nabis divided into 34 packets hidden inside the car. Duty Magistrate Yana Mi- callef Stafrace is holding an inquiry. The men are expected to be charged in court in the com- ing hours.