On Monday 22 October, members of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee approved by 30 votes in favour, 14 against and 12 abstentions, the draft report by Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia) on the temporary re-establishment of internal border controls.
Responding to the Council's position that was adopted in June and to the proposal for the reform of the Schengen Borders Code that was launched in September 2017, the Parliament's civil liberties committee insisted on an early assessment of any demand for a prolongation of these controls from a period of two months, although the Council and Commission would like an assessment after six months.
The MEPs have thus amended the current rules by only allowing an initial period of two months for border controls relating to predictable events, instead of the current six months. They also wanted the prolongation of internal border controls to be reduced to a year compared with the two years currently permitted, and compared with the Commission's initial proposal of making controls possible, cumulatively, for up to three years.
In her draft report, Fajon said that according to estimates, a dismantling of the Schengen Area would represent costs ranging from €5 billion to €18 billion per year, depending on the regions, sectors and circuits of trade substitution. Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and France are all currently operating such controls at their borders.
Any country wanting to prolong these measures beyond two months will thus have to provide a detailed assessment of the risks and explain how the alternative measures have proven insufficient and how the controls would help deal with the threat identified. The EU neighbouring countries concerned by these potential controls will have to be consulted. Furthermore, any prolongation beyond six months will have to be the subject of a decision at the Council.
The member states meanwhile opted in June for a flexible procedure giving them some latitude and avoiding the use of decision-making procedures that are too rigid.
The negotiations between the two parties will open when the European Parliament has adopted this compromise in plenary. This vote is expected to take place in November or December (at the time of EUROPE going to press on Tuesday the date was still unknown). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)