EU rules that leave gaping hole in our borders

ANY EU citizen, including those from Eastern Europe, can enter the UK without a visa, just as Britons can travel freely around the continent.

When EU nationals arrive at the border, their passport details are checked against a ‘watchlist’ of suspected terrorists and foreign criminals compiled by the border agency.

But unless an offender is high-profile, is known to have committed crimes in several countries, or is on Interpol’s ‘wanted’ list, the system is unlikely to be aware of their previous convictions – leaving a gaping hole in our border controls. Except in the most extreme circumstances, Brussels does not force EU states to share information on known criminals who might travel.

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland flag up potentially dangerous people to the UK so they can be turned away at ports or airports. But if countries do not warn that a dangerous offender is on the way – and some do not even keep information of convictions for internal use – there is little Britain can do to stop them slipping through the net.

Even if an arrival has a known conviction, they cannot automatically be refused entry.

Normally, a person can be excluded from the UK only if they pose ‘a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat’. This means it is not enough for an EU citizen to have a serious criminal conviction – if it is some time in the past the UK may fall foul of Brussels directives if they refuse to allow that person in. The Government has access to the Sec- ond Generation Schengen Information System, known as ‘SIS II’, which has details of 250,000 wanted or missing people in Europe.

But it will issue alerts only on the most dangerous on-the-run criminals as well as missing people, stolen goods and suspected jihadists returning to Europe.

It will not collate information on convictions – so someone with a history of offending would not be flagged up. Another system, ECRIS, lists EU citizens’ convictions. But this can be used only when a suspect is inside the UK and has been arrested or charged.