Brussels, 10/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament rapporteur on the Schengen area, Carlos Coehlo (EPP, Portugal), said on Thursday 10 January that he was very pessimistic about the outcome of discussions with the European Council. “I don't sense any willingness on the part of the Council to come closer to the European Parliament's position”, he told his colleagues in the Parliament's civil liberties committee.
On 18 December a high level trilogue took place on the subject, bringing together the Cypriot minister Loucas Louca and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, but without any result. Last June, the Council decided to sideline the Parliament from the future reforms of the Schengen area evaluation mechanism - the evaluation being used inter alia to decide on the temporary reintroduction of border controls. The Council had opted for a consultation rather than co-decision. The discussions between the two parties were only resumed a few months afterwards.
Coehlo said that the Parliament “suggested an alternative method with a bridging clause to link the two texts on evaluation and Schengen Borders codes but the Council did not agree”. This refusal, if it continues, Coehlo said, “will have four consequences - we give up on the Parliament's participation in this mechanism, we give up on a truly European mechanism, we do not protect the free movement of Europeans, and we increase the possibilities for member states to put back border controls. And this is everything we want to avoid” (our translation throughout). (SP/transl.fl)