Brussels, 12/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - As he had done in Toulon in December, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is standing for re-election, stated his desire at a campaign rally in the Paris suburb of Villepinte on Sunday to have the Schengen agreement renegotiated, going as far as to threaten to suspend France's participation in the agreement if no progress was made in putting in place political governance of the open border area over the coming 12 months.
Since, under the terms of the current treaties, France cannot leave the Schengen area without leaving the EU itself, suspending France's participation would mean unilaterally re-imposing controls at French borders. “If I were to find that, in the next 12 months, no serious progress has been made in that direction (tightening Europe's external borders), then France would suspend its participation in the Schengen accords until the negotiations are completed”, Sarkozy told his supporters.
Reform of the Schengen accords has been under way since 2011, through two legislative proposals that were brought forward in September and a “political” steering committee has already been set up by EU home affairs ministers and will meet for the first time in June of this year. This committee, the Mixed Committee with enhanced powers, will provide this political governance.
As for the September proposals, one of them makes provision for the suspension of the accords, that is to say, it allows member states the possibility of reinstating border controls in the event of a major crisis, for example, if there were to be great migratory pressure or if a state failed to properly manage common borders, an accusation levelled against Greece at the present time. This text is still under discussion but, contrary to the wishes of the Commission, it is already looking as if decisions will be for member states alone, in consultation with their partners, of course, to avoid unilateral decisions or taking the other member states by surprise. Decisions on re-establishing border controls in the event of threats to public order or national security would, thus, be matters of national sovereignty, whereas the Commission's proposal in September was for communitisation of any such moves.
At a press conference on Monday 12 March, Commissioner Cecilia Malmström pointed out that the reforms were, indeed, under negotiation and that they aimed to improve mutual confidence, appraisal of the system and to ensure freedom of movement. She made no further comment on Sarkozy's statements, saying only that treaty change would be required to be able to leave Schengen.
It was precisely on this that French Socialists criticised Sarkozy who, himself, had been critical of their desire to “renegotiate” the fiscal compact to add a section on growth. The French Socialist delegation in the European Parliament said that Sarkozy's “threat to suspend France's participation in Schengen is yet another attempt to blame, to frighten and to divide French and Europeans over a non-issue”. (SP/transl.rt)