The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, confirmed in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties on Thursday 7 May that guidelines for a gradual lifting of internal EU border controls would be presented “next week”, together with measures to support SMEs in the tourism sector, which have been badly affected by the pandemic.
The guidelines, due out on 13 May, will meet three criteria: the level of virus circulation on both sides of the border and the state of health services, the presence of instructions to act as a barrier or social distancing and the purpose of travel.
The Commissioner will discuss this again with the Home Ministers on 8 May. These guidelines will in any case respect “our European values”, the Commissioner said, and will not allow “discrimination”.
For example, it “will not be possible to allow citizens of one Member State” to come “and not those of another Member State”, the Commissioner may be referring to Austria’s announcements that internal borders may only be opened for German citizens.
The triptych of this gradual lifting of internal border controls will be the following: the conditions required for lifting these controls, a coordinated approach and the nature of the support requested from the Commission to accompany this work.
For the Commissioner, however, while Member States rushed unilaterally at the beginning of the crisis to re-establish controls at their borders, “getting back to normal” will be “difficult”.
Yet the current situation creates difficulties with people who are “sad, angry, frustrated” about not being able to cross borders. The official said she had received dozens of letters reporting situations such as the inability to attend a partner’s child delivery in the neighbouring country or the inability to return home, for example from Greece to Bulgaria, the official said.
New proposals to strengthen Schengen
Beyond these guidelines, the Commissioner also announced new forthcoming proposals on the Schengen area, which she wants to “strengthen and deepen” and “update”. She also wants Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to join the free movement area quickly.
Reforms will include finding alternatives to the internal border controls that 6 countries already applied before Covid-19. These “alternatives” could consist of police checks more within countries, with greater use of technology.
There will also need to be a regular dialogue on the state of Schengen with the EU Council and the European Parliament, the aim of these new proposals being to restore “trust” between Member States.
When contacted, the Commission did not specify the date of publication of these proposals, but they could be incorporated into the forthcoming Pact on Migration and Asylum. A long-awaited pact, which will be presented “very quickly”, the Commissioner told the elected officials, without however giving them a precise date yet. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)