Wolfgang Bosbach, the number two in the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Social Democratic interior expert Dieter Wiefelspütz have both called for the introduction of fingerprinting technology at German consulates.

"We must increase the checks on people who come from problem states," said Bosbach in an interview with the Die Welt newspaper. "These would be necessary for those who intend to stay for particularly long periods and those who may present a particular danger."

Wiefelspütz said that "particular preventative measures" should be brought in "according to the state of origin and position" of the person wanting to come to Germany. Those measures would include fingerprinting and the collection of data.

Terror database discussion rumbles on

The discussion on fingerprinting comes to the fore at a time when the federal government finds itself in disagreement over the planned creation of a central database for terror suspects. The database has been the subject of heated discussion since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, but in the five years that have passed, no consensus has been reached.

After further discussions on Monday evening, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) and Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries (SPD) again failed to find a solution.

Zypries has doubts over the constitutionality of collecting and storing data on the grounds of religious affiliation.

The fingerprinting and database topics will once again be tackled when government and state ministers convene for a security conference in Berlin on September 4. Officials from the secret services and the police are expected to attend and to push for the anti-terror database as a means for a better exchange of information on suspects between the 16 states and various departments within the security apparatus.