Brussels, 21/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June for a European Council which is set to be dominated by the financial situation in Greece, the 27 heads of state and government are expected, as agreed, to get back on top of the Schengen dossier and further clarify their expectations of the future mechanism which allows the member states, under exceptional circumstances, to bring back controls on the internal borders of the Schengen area. At this summit, the EU27 are also expected to commit once again in favour of setting a common asylum regime in place by the end of next year and, to this end, to undertake to move forward on a series of texts which have so far been problematic, such as the directives on hosting conditions and asylum procedures.
These decisions will be made in a context which has calmed down a great deal as regards migration matters. In February, the influx of Tunisian migrants to the Italian island of Lampedusa, more than 25,000 in just a few weeks, started to cause concern on the part of some of the member states and gave rise to discussions, particularly as Italy decided to issue temporary residence permits to some of these migrants, thereby allowing them to move freely through the Schengen zone, particularly in France. This decision set the cat among the pigeons between Rome and Paris, causing France to put back on the table the idea of new governance of Schengen and new, extended, conditions for internal border controls to be brought back.
This work was then steered by the home affairs ministers of the EU who, at their meeting in Luxembourg on 9 June, asked the Commission in writing to make a proposal, notably a legislative proposal, to this effect. According to provisional draft conclusions, the EU27 will confirm this request and call on the Commission to present them with proposals in the early autumn. Without at this stage specifying whether it will be the Commission or the member states which will decide on setting this specific mechanism in place, the EU27 are nonetheless expected to stress that internal border controls should only be a last resort, in “clearly defined” situations, such as in the event that a state is deficient in its obligations to manage joint Schengen borders, or if a part of the joint borders comes under unexpected pressure. Re-establishing internal border controls can, furthermore, only be a temporary measure.
On the governance of the Schengen area, which certain member states have criticised as weak, despite a legislative proposal to this effect put forward late last year by the Commission, which asked to play a greater role, the EU27 are planning to stress that the future system for assessing the functioning of Schengen must be built on a Community basis and involve experts from the Commission, the member states and the competent European agencies. The current legislative reflection should make it possible to define the basic criteria for the assessments and the Commission will be called upon to analyse the results of these assessments, the draft states.
On the other plank which goes hand-in-hand with the governance of Schengen, that of reinforcing the external borders of the EU and the activities of the Frontex agency, the EU27 will first of all point out that the monitoring of the borders is based on the responsibility of the member states, which carry out this function for the other partners. The provisional conclusions refer here to the future European border monitoring system which is due to be up and running in 2013, which will allow the member states to step up cooperation amongst themselves. On Frontex, the revision of the regulation of which was still being discussed on Tuesday 21 June, the missions of this agency, like those of Europol, should be constantly assessed to verify their effectiveness; the draft conclusions do not refer clearly to the idea of a European border-guard system, as France is calling for, for example, but indicate that the Commission will be invited to put forward its ideas on developing a “framework of cooperation” for the national border-guards.
On asylum, the EU27 will stress that it is “crucial” that a common regime be agreed upon by 2012 and the revised proposals on asylum presented by the Commission on 1st June of this year will provide a new negotiating basis for the Council. There is currently deadlock on a range of issues, such as the revision of the Dublin 2 regulation.
At a press conference on Tuesday 21 June, Commission President José Manuel Barroso called energetically on the EU27 to set in place this joint asylum regime as quickly as possible, and took the opportunity to reiterate the Commission's position on the future of Schengen. Some have suggested “that the principles of Schengen will be undermined. I do not agree”, said Barroso. He is of the opinion that “we are going to see the European approach to migration and freedom of movement reinforced”. (S.P./transl.fl)