Brussels, 08/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 September, the Court of Justice of the EU rejected Spain's action (case C-44/14) questioning the legality of cooperation by Ireland and the United Kingdom in the Eurosur system that seeks to prevent and to combat illegal immigration and cross-border crime.
Spain challenged the special treatment accorded these two member states which do not participate in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis. One example of this is the Eurosur regulation. This provides for information exchange and cooperation being carried out on the basis of bilateral or multilateral agreements between Ireland and the United Kingdom and neighbouring member states, even though these two countries do not participate in Schengen provisions on crossing external borders which are, nevertheless, part of the Eurosur system.
The Court ruled that these two countries cannot be said to participate in the Eurosur system but only take part in a limited form of cooperation. Cooperation of this sort does not give rise to rights and obligations comparable to those of the other member states and is permitted in terms of the context and the very structure of the provisions of the Schengen acquis. (Jan Kordys)