Brussels, 21/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 17 November, the European Commission sent a letter to The Hague calling on it to clarify the matter of setting in place video-surveillance at its borders, announced for early January 2012, in particular at its borders with Belgium and Germany. The government of the Netherlands, supported by Geerd Wilders' populists, had informed the Commission of the plan, which among other things will allow the authorities of the Netherlands to inspect vehicle registration plates and compare them to their registers, a spokesperson for Commissioner Cecilia Malmström explains. However, the Commission would like further clarification in order to assess whether the measures are in line with Schengen rules. It wishes to question The Hague about the legal base for and the frequency and duration of such inspections.
After calling on France and Italy to provide an explanation in early spring, and then on Denmark in May, this is the third time this year that the Commission is asking a member state within the area of free movement to clarify matters.
In April, France had stepped up its police controls within its border zone with Italy further to the arrival of countless migrants in Lampedusa. Rome, for its part, had provided the migrants with temporary permits of stay in order to allow them to move on within the Schengen Area. The former Danish government had, for its part, initiated the first phase of a three-stage plan to step up customs controls, which gave rise to the written protest from the president of the European Commission.
After analysis of the situation, France and Italy were cleared, although Commissioner Malmström had bemoaned, in September, that their action was detrimental to the spirit of Schengen. The new Danish government formed after elections in September had immediately indicated its desire to discard the three-phase plan. On 25 October, Copenhagen sent an official letter to the Commission, pointing out that all plans had been cancelled and that the customs officers deployed to carry out the new controls had been reassigned to other tasks, the spokesman states. The government of the Netherlands is expected to inform the Commission, within 10 weeks from now, of the motives underlying such measures and on the practical implementation of the measures.
Furthermore, the Netherlands is today the only remaining country that is opposed to Bulgaria and Romania entering the Schengen Area. Finland had announced it was willing to lift its veto last week. The Hague maintains its opposition due to persisting doubt about the two candidates' progress in the field of counter-corruption and in fighting crime, but this stance is no longer considered very relevant - or very “reasonable” - a spokesman of a large Schengen member country said last week. (SP/transl.jl)