Brussels, 25/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Thursday 25 February, the home affairs ministers of the EU adopted the proposal tabled by the European Commission in mid-December following the attacks of 13 November in Paris to revise the Schengen Borders Code to allow systematic controls on European nationals crossing the external borders of Schengen, on the basis of European or international police files.
By agreeing on a general approach, the ministers have launched negotiations with the European Parliament, which are expected to start as soon as the latter has adopted its opinion. The proposal adopted by the ministers makes these systematic controls on Europeans obligatory (systematic controls are already obligatory for third-country nationals) at all crossing points of the external borders by air, sea or land.
The proposal makes a certain amount of provision for the rules to be relaxed: for instance, if these systematic controls should lead to excessive waiting time, simple but targeted controls on the basis of specific risk criteria may be possible, but only for sea and land crossing points. This relaxation of the rules would not be possible in airports other than for an interim period of six months after the regulation enters into force, to allow enough time to take account of infrastructure-related requirements in airports. “Following this period, systematic checks will exclude no one”, commented the Dutch minister in charge of the dossier, Klaas Dijkhoff.
The proposal also provides for a revision clause two years after its entry into force, which could be the opportunity to remove the derogations on the sea and land borders, the Minister added. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)