Brussels, 26/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Rome on Tuesday 26 April for a Franco-Italian summit, the aim of which was to reduce tension over the issue of Tunisian migrants arriving in Lampedusa in recent months, to whom Italy has started to issue temporary residence permits and travel documents, the President of the Italian Council and the French Head of State, Mr Berlusconi and Mr Sarkozy respectively, stressed their hopes of reforming the Schengen free-movement area and the way it is governed, notably by changing the current conditions (the "safeguard clause") which allows a Member State of the space to reinstate controls on its internal borders.
With a view to this, the two men have written to José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, asking them, amongst other things, to look into the possibility of temporarily re-establishing controls on internal borders, which can be contemplated "in the event of exceptional difficulties in the management of common external borders, under conditions to be defined". In this document, Italy stresses the need for increased solidarity of the 27 towards the countries of the EU which are directly faced with an influx of migrants, by means of additional financial resources.
Currently, under Schengen rules, a State can already, by virtue of exceptional circumstances which it feels could lead to disturbances to public order - sporting events, for example - re-establish border controls. Today, the idea is to go further and to respond to pressure on the joint borders, which "have consequences for all Member States", writes Mr Sarkozy and Mr Berlusconi. They call on the "European Council of June" to "give the political impetus (…) and make concrete decisions in response to the current difficulties", they add.
This reflection on a reinforcement of the governance of Schengen had already started before the events of Lampedusa. On 24 February, notably by initiative of Germany, a "temporary suspension" mechanism for the Schengen rules was discussed by the Home Affairs Ministers, which would allow a Member State to take steps to defend itself against the shortcomings of its neighbour(s) in the event of poor management of its borders, if these constitute common EU borders. Back then, Greece was in the line of fire.
This term, "suspension", of the Schengen rules, however, leads to a certain amount of confusion, a French source acknowledges. "It is not a matter of suspending the Schengen agreements" (signed in 1985 and institutionalised in 1997 in the Treaty of Amsterdam), which a "Member State cannot do" of its own accord, but of "reinforcing the existing safeguard clause", the source continues. At the very outside, it is possible to talk of "temporary suspension of a specific point".
Mr Berlusconi and Mr Sarkozy stress in their letter that it is not about putting an end to Schengen, adding that free movement in the area is a "major achievement" of European integration which must absolutely be preserved. "We want Schengen to live", said President Sarkozy in Rome, and "that is why it needs to be reformed", in the same way as what has been done to reinforce the Eurozone.
The European Commission shares this view. On Tuesday 26 April, it stated that, ahead of its communication on immigration scheduled for 4 May (which will be put to the ministers on 12 May for decisions at the European Summit at the end of June), it would not be looking to "revolutionise" the Schengen system, but to redefine the circumstances under which the safeguard clause can be used by the Member States and, consequently, to redefine the re-establishment of internal border controls. Declining to state whether this safeguard clause would be rewritten, the Commission simply stated that its communication would help to "clarify" the interpretation of this safeguard clause, which is behind the recent tension between Paris and Rome, and to reinforce the "coordination between the Member States" in matters of free movement within Schengen, notably as regards migrants.
On 4 May, the Commission is also expected to discuss the reinforcement of the Frontex agency and any new financial resources for 2011, whilst the Council is already getting stuck into the revision of the regulation of the agency, to allow it its own resources. This request has also been made by France and Italy, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Berlusconi arguing that reinforcing Frontex is "a major imperative", as the agency could be "the core of a European border guard system".
In their letter, the two countries also stressed the fact that the priority for the EU is to find an overall agreement with its neighbours to the South of the Mediterranean as soon as possible. They believe that the EU should provide "considerable support" to these countries, but in return, they should commit to "rapid and effective" cooperation to fight illegal immigration. On 4 May, the Commission will also discuss the issue of the future readmission agreements (so far, the Commission have a mandate with Morocco alone) with these countries, Tunisia and Egypt on the top of the list, but it declined on Tuesday 26 April to confirm this "conditionality" of European aid. (S.P./transl.fl)