Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - A reform of the Schengen area in September instead of early October. This is the request which was finally made by the leaders to the European Commission on Friday 24 June, which means that the Commission has been called upon to decide on new rules to reinforce Schengen, including a safeguard mechanism to be triggered if the functioning of the free-movement area is jeopardised. This mechanism could possibly go as far as bringing back internal border controls in particularly critical situations as a last resort. It was also the most sensitive point in the discussions of the EU27.
Initially requested for early autumn, the EU27agreed on Friday morning to speed up the process, which has been under discussions since the end of April, and ended up agreeing on conditions to justify the re-establishment of internal border controls: a member state failing to observe its obligations under the Schengen rules, in other words the management of its part of the common borders. However, no specific reference was made to mass immigration, as the French, for example, were calling for. In an earlier version of the draft conclusions, the failure to “prevent illegal immigration”, was included, but only the idea of a state defaulting on its obligations was retained.
Under the conclusions adopted, a decision of this kind to bring back internal border controls will be made on the basis of objective criteria and further to a joint assessment, the EU27decided, for very specific reasons and for a limited period of time. The EU27also stressed twice in their conclusions the need to preserve the principle of freedom of movement, which should not be affected by this safeguard clause. This support for the preservation of the principles of Schengen went down particularly well with the Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, who said that he was “pleased” that the EU27 had reiterated that Schengen “is one of the EU's major achievements”, he told the final press conference.
The fact remains that nothing was decided on Friday about the decision-making mechanism concerning these returns to borders and there could be a fresh battle once the Commission puts its texts on the table. It feels that this decision on border controls should remain eminently Community in nature, but in the view of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as he stated at Friday's press conference, this decision is “national”, even if it involves a “European examination” upstream, for example by the Commission, he said, welcoming the fact that the conclusions of the EU27 on the safeguard clause “reflect France's requests in every point”.
There was another unforeseen debate on Schengen on Friday morning, regarding the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the free movement area. Romania placed the subject on the table, taking pains to ensure that the coming work on reinforcing the Schengen rules would not call into question the commitments the two capitals have so far been given. On 9 June, the European home affairs ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, decided to take another look at the question of enlarging Schengen in September and spoke of a possible first phase of accession this year. In Brussels on Friday, the two candidate capitals had it placed on record that the new legislative initiatives on Schengen will not apply to Sofia and Bucharest and will not change the commitments given on 9 June.
As for the asylum package, which was also discussed on Friday, the Commission's room for manoeuvre was again reduced further than it would have wished. On Friday, the EU27 stated, as agreed, that it was “vital” to set in place a joint asylum regime by 2012 and took note of the fact that the presentation, on 1st June of this year, of two new directives on asylum conditions and procedures would constitute a new basis for negotiations.
On the other hand, no reference to the Commission's wishes to revise the so-called Dublin II system made it to the text of conclusions adopted by the EU27. A draft dated 15 June referred to the famous suspensive clause the Commission wished to see in the Dublin regulation, which was then deleted, the latest provisional conclusions going no further than to refer to the Dublin II regulation as one of several elements of the asylum package. It was, however, still too much for the British and the Germans, as Prime Minister David Cameron stressed on Friday, London and Berlin having managed to get even the name of this “Dublin” regulation removed from the final text. “I was worried before the summit about proposals to remove the Dublin provisions”, said David Cameron, “but I am delighted that the United Kingdom and Germany have made sure that these proposals are not even mentioned” in the conclusions. (S.P./transl.fl)