Brussels, 07/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) does not want new conditions that can justify the reintroduction of border controls between countries belonging to the Schengen area and certainly does not want any changes brought in under the pretext of controlling migratory flows. That was the firm message sent to the Council from Strasbourg on 7 July with the adoption of a joint resolution on planned changes to the Schengen rules.
Review of governance of the free movement area, approved by the heads of state and government at their meeting in Brussels on 24 June, after several months of public debate led by France in particular, is expected in September. The Commission will bring forward a proposal.
This could contain an option on which the EP was particularly severe - a safeguard clause which will allow internal border controls to be re-instated, as a last resort, after a member state has failed in its responsibilities on its part of the common border.
This is a possibility which the EP finds hard to stomach, seeing in it a breach in and an unravelling of the Schengen acquis. In their resolution, MEPs do not oppose the principle of a strengthening of Schengen governance which must, they say “help ensure that each member state can effectively control its section of the EU's external borders, to reinforce mutual trust and to build confidence in the effectiveness of the EU system of migration management”. They are also of the view that any new reason put forward for reintroducing border controls “would definitely not reinforce the Schengen system”.
On Wednesday evening during the debate, the main political groups in the EP expressed their concerns over the last resort mechanism - concerns exacerbated by Denmark's recent strengthening of its customs controls at its borders with Germany and Sweden. Carlos Coelho (EPP, Denmark) said that reinstating internal border controls was “giving in to populist trends and threatens European heritage”.
MEPs also noted that the current Schengen Borders Code already provides for the reintroduction of internal border controls in exceptional circumstances, where there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security. On Thursday, the EP called on the European Commission to bring forward an initiative aimed at defining the “strict application” of the current rules by the member states. The EP also pointed the finger at a certain dishonesty among member states, noting in its text that the recent problems with Schengen “are rooted in a reluctance to implement common European policies in other fields”, most crucially a common European asylum and migration system.
The EP says that strengthening Schengen governance must be based both on toughening external border controls (through Frontex, for example) and better evaluation of the system, that is, control of the external borders and monitoring the abolition of internal borders as set by the Schengen agreement.
At the end of 2010, the Commission brought forward a legislative initiative to improve the evaluation of the system and, as Commissioner Maroš Šefèoviè said on Wednesday evening, it is this proposal (Ed: possible amendment of the Schengen Borders Code at the same time is not to be ruled out) which could be amended for September. Its legal basis, Article 77, requires co-decision. Whatever the form chosen by the Commission, the proposal will ensure “equal footing” for Council and EP, and be based on Article 77, Šefèoviè stated. This clarification could not but have reassured MEPs, many of whom had feared over recent days that the EP might be frozen out of discussions. (S.P./transl.rt)