Brussels, 01/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement of the Schengen area to Bulgaria and Romania, the announced recasting of the rules for the area of free movement, the fight against illegal immigration and also continued work on the asylum package - these were the home affairs priorities of the first Polish Presidency of the EU, which started on Friday 1st July.
The future of the Schengen area, recasting of its rules and its enlargement will moreover be one of the major areas of work of the Presidency as the Commission's proposal, as requested by the EU27 on 24 June, should come into effect in September. Also that month, home ministers - as they had stated in Luxembourg on 9 June - will meet for further discussion on the treatment reserved for Sofia and Bucharest, candidates that were initially to join Schengen in spring 2011 but whose expectations have so far been disappointed by the attitude taken by a series of member states especially France, Germany and the Netherlands. The latter was particularly reticent about Schengen enlargement.
On these two “Schengen” dossiers, Poland has a slightly different position from that of its partners. With regard to recasting Schengen government, for example, although it has accepted the principle, it is not so keen on the possible reintroduction of internal border controls in Schengen countries should a state fail. On 24 June, during the European summit partly devoted to this issue, Poland had not wished to go into greater detail regarding the circumstances allowing a country to restore border controls, as it did not wish to give a signal in favour of this mechanism. Compliance with the European provisions on the free movement of Europeans is, moreover, one of the priorities of the Polish Presidency.
Poland wants accession by Bulgaria and Romania to also be a priority, with a first accession phase being effected in September. On 9 June, a number of member states including France and Germany had said they were open to a possible two-stage process, opening of air and maritime borders in 2011 and then of land borders in 2012. Only the Netherlands (the dossier requires unanimity) had expressed the resolve not to take a decision until 2012. The Polish Presidency believes that the challenge will therefore be to secure a decision on Sofia and Bucharest by the end of 2011, as already indicated by Home Minister Jerzy Miller on 9 June, in the hope that the Netherlands would also change its mind.
As far as the fight against illegal immigration is concerned, Warsaw plans to continue work for implementing the new regulation recently taken on board by the external border surveillance agency, Frontex, which has new means and will focus on effective policy for the readmission of illegal migrants via the negotiation of new agreements with third countries. It will grant special attention to unaccompanied minors and also tackle more overall development of European policy for the return of migrants into their country of origin, its programme states.
Regarding asylum, Warsaw will attempt in turn to move forward on the setting up of a common regime by the end of 2012, the official recognised objective reiterated on 24 June by the EU27. Poland, however, also wants to place emphasis on solidarity between the 27 EU member states in this field and develop certain programmes such as the resettlement in the EU of refugees blocked in conflict zones.
Other Polish priorities are: - the strengthening and implementation of European internal security strategy, continued work on international PNR (USA/Australia/Canada) and European PNR, the European directive on data retention and assessment of the EU strategy on drug abuse in recast form, in 2012 - another major dossier of great importance for Warsaw. (S.P./transl.jl)