For those of you still interested in the
ramifications of this on prophetic scriptures, it may be helpful to point out
that many prophecy scholars are convinced that the one world government will
be in some fashion part of the current EU.
Europe speeds up electronic ID
plans
The EU may introduce a standard health
insurance card for all member states next year, followed by passports
containing a biometric ID chip
Munir Kotadia, ZDNet UK
October 23, 2003
EU citizens may be hit by a double whammy of electronic idenfication
measures over the next two years with the introduction of health insurance ID
cards across Europe and a new EU passport embedded with a wireless chip
carrying biometric information.
On 1 June, 2004, the European Commission is to launch the first phase of
introducing a health insurance card that will significantly reduce the
paperwork required before a European citizen can receive medical treatment in
another member country, according to a recent proposal. Additionally, a new EU
passport containing biometric data about its holder has been pencilled in for
introduction in 2005, a few months after the US makes biometric passports for
non visa-holders compulsory.
The original proposals for improving passport security were submitted in
September 2001 and adopted by the European Parliament in regulation 334/2002,
five months later. However, the latest proposal set out by the European
Commission not only intends to speed up the roadmap set out in regulation
334/2002, but is designed to further improve the security of EU passports to
aid the detection of individuals using forged or stolen documents. This will
require an amendment to an earlier regulation that set the requirement for a
uniform passport format for all EU member countries.
The proposal recommends that passports contain a digital image of the
holder so that facial recognition technology can be used to aid the
identification process. As a secondary measure, two fingerprints of the
passport holder would also be stored in a wireless chip that is embedded
within the document.
The proposal states: "The most appropriate storage medium is a
contactless microchip. The microchip is necessary for the storage of the
biometric information and the security code (PKI digital signature)". The
document states that the chips should have a minimum of 32KB of storage, but
recommends 64KB so that member states will be free to add unspecified
"alphanumeric data".
According to the proposal, fingerprints were preferred over iris scans
because most EU countries already maintain extensive databases using
fingerprint information, so that background checks on individuals would be a
relatively simple process.
As for the health insurance card, there are already a number of joint
health schemes in operation, one example is between Germany and the
Netherlands. Since 2000, the two countries have issued virtually identical
health cards to allow their citizens to receive treatment from either country.
The proposed EU-wide health card is designed to eventually replace at least
five different application forms that currently have to be filled in by EU
citizens when studying, travelling, working or receiving health care in member
states.
