Enhanced cooperation: new impetus. On Monday 12 July, the member states decided to launch the very first use of “enhanced cooperation” under the Lisbon Treaty. I will not be commenting on the actual subject matter of the enhanced cooperation here (concerning divorce proceedings for mixed European marriages, see issue 10179), but rather the political decision that has been taken (although the legal details still need to be worked out). The European Parliament approved it by a landslide (615 to 30) and the Council of Ministers adopted it unanimously. Commissioner Viviane Reding was behind the initiative, arguing that it would be extremely beneficial for “hundreds and thousands of international couples”.
I would point out that despite fears expressed in central and Eastern Europe, the new mechanism has not been used to set up a two-speed Europe. The country that decided to remain outside the decision for the moment (because of issues arising under its own legal system) is Sweden, and Germany held back until the last moment. This shows that the “enhanced cooperation” mechanism is neutral. It makes it possible to do things that some countries want but others do not wish to join. It is a way of ensuring that the European project can make progress even if unanimous agreement cannot be reached. I would point out that although the rules and procedures were not the same back then, it was “enhanced cooperation” that made it possible for Europe to set up the Schengen area and the eurozone. A new age of “enhanced cooperation” is now opening.
Almost forgot your birthday. The 25th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement, signed by France, Germany and the three Benelux countries on 14 June 1985, almost went by unnoticed despite a few events in the village of Schengen in Luxembourg. Yet this deal to scrap border controls within the Schengen area is a crucial stage in the European project and most of the people living in countries that are not yet part of the Schengen area are extremely anxious to join it. The master of ceremonies on 14 June 1985, a man who was then a minister in Luxembourg and is now an MEP, Robert Goebbels, said that the deal would go down in history. Many sniggered but Goebbels was right! The common market was in existence in 1985 but so were border controls and that meant long queues, paperwork and organised mistrust at customs…
A whole series of measure were needed to do away with all this - cooperation among police forces, the right to pursue individuals across borders, a highly complex information system, harmonisation of visas, and an embryonic European federal police force. Fine-tuning is still going on and the process is rather costly and complicated at times, but it all pays off because it can be used to tackle organised crime.
After the first five countries founded the Schengen system, other member states gradually joined and now all bar four (the UK, Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria) have joined. Romania and Bulgaria hope to join in March 2011 and meanwhile three non-EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, have met the criteria and joined Schengen. Goebbels points out that today, having a Schengen visa means that 400 million people can travel freely in 25 countries. Young people these days have no idea what it meant in the past when people were unable to freely travel, study and work without having to go through border controls. People living in the countries outside the EU all long to be part of Schengen and see it as a dream come true to already be able to enter the Schengen area temporarily by means of a passport but not needing a visa.
I will stop there because it is considered bad taste to praise the European project...
Smiling through gritted teeth? I am sometimes criticised for my attempts to point out in my column how the European project is making progress because scepticism and cynicism are more fashionable. I am not a lone voice, however. Here is a message I have received from Eneko Landaburu, head of the EU's delegation in Morocco, lending support to my attitude: “It is all very well to systematically indulge in sterile, masochistic criticism that only makes things worse and makes people feel frustrated, yet compare this attitude with the different process of not abandoning the high levels of ambition required to consolidate and expand upon European integration projects. There is no place for nostalgia for a European golden age that never was. The current period requires a clear view of the objectives allied with abundant tactical intelligence and pragmatism. How strange that some of the people most critical today are those who, when in power, never wanted or never proved capable of providing the EU institutions with the powers required to build the Community method.”
I would remind readers that that Eneko Landaburu recently negotiated the EU's agreements with Russia and is now responsible for putting flesh on the bones of Morocco's advanced status in cooperation with the EU. Putting pragmatism into practice.
(F.R./transl.fl)