Mr Jambon has long been in favor of biometric identity cards on which the data chips contain face scan and figure print data is contained. However, Mr Jambon’s proposals met with opposition, not least from Mr Jambon’s Flemish liberal coalition partners.

The Interior Minister believes that biometric identity cards will help tackle identity fraud. Mr Jambon told VRT News that “There are regularly instances of identity fraud. With finger prints and face recognition you will be able to see if the identity document actually belongs to the person that is carrying it. I hope that we can deal with this today”.

The proposals approved at today’s cabinet meeting are for finger print data to be added to the data chips. The addition of finger print data will be done gradually each time a new identity card is issued or an existing identity card is renewed. A plan to set up a finger print data base has been shelved.