Brussels, 27/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Although the European Commission has not been directly pointing a finger of blame at Greece over the past few weeks, stating that it was regularly assessing all the EU's external borders and not just that of this country, it officially admitted on Wednesday 27 January that it had examined the situation in Greece, after a mission in November. On this assessment will depend a range of decisions that could lead to the introduction of controls at Schengen internal borders for periods of up to two years.
Although this report is not public, the Commission has, nonetheless, provided some major indications, observing that the illegal migrants “are not being identified or registered effectively”, said Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. The report also indicates that “fingerprints have not been systematically put into the system and verification of the authenticity of travel documents and checking them against key security databases, such as the SIS, an Interpol database and national databases, have not been systematic”.
Based on these findings, the Commission takes the view in the draft report that “Greece is seriously neglecting its obligations and there are serious shortcomings in the execution of external border controls that the Greek authorities must overcome and resolve”.
The Commission has therefore officially followed up the request made by home affairs ministers in Amsterdam on 25 January, to prepare the way for triggering Article 26 of the Schengen Border Code by mid-May, if necessary, as a last resort, which would allow member states to carry out controls at their internal borders for a period of up to two years. To do this (and only following an assessment), Article 19(b) of the Treaty would have to be actioned and it is on the basis of this Article 19 that “corrective” action can be recommended for a three-month period, after which, member states would decide whether to activate Article 26 or not.
In practice, and in an effort to respond to ministers' demands, the Commission will have to complete its assessment for the middle of February so that the necessary three-month period can begin in which to rectify the situation. Uncomfortable with the pressure put on Greece and the Schengen area, the Commission finally said on Wednesday that the College of Commissioners had, indeed, “taken note of and discussed the draft Schengen assessment report concerning Greece and had taken into consideration observations made on the ground and their significance”. The Commission indicated in December that it would examine the situation, while the home affairs ministers had already spoken of possibly activating Article 26, but has restricted itself over the past few days to stating that it was assessing all the member states.
The Schengen assessment mechanism was officially introduced in October 2013 and makes provision for Commission-headed teams consisting of experts appointed by the member states and Frontex verifying the application of the Schengen rules by carrying out inspections and checks in a given member state.
On-site spot inspections were carried out on 10-30 November 2015 at the land border between Greece and Turkey and on the islands of Chios and Samos, the Commission said. It pointed out that police officers and coastguards had been present on the sites inspected and also highlighted the efficiency of the identification and registration procedure, surveillance of the maritime border and cooperation with neighbouring countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)