Published on 25 November, a European Commission evaluation report on the functioning of the Schengen area between 2015 and 2019 indicates that Member States are generally complying well with the rules of the free movement area. However, some serious dysfunctions were detected in a few countries, but were “quickly” corrected.
This report is based on 200 field assessments. It relates in particular to malfunctions observed in the implementation of the Schengen Information System. Serious shortcomings were thus observed over this period in Belgium, France, Spain, but also in the United Kingdom. Later visits subsequently found that the first three countries had addressed the problems identified.
The Commission identifies as a major shortcoming the very slowness of the evaluation procedure, between the evaluation phase, the adoption of a report and the preparation of recommendations to the Member State concerned (always confidential). It takes the Commission an average of 10 months to adopt a report. And the EU Council still needs 2.5 months to adopt recommendations asking the country concerned to address the problems identified.
The teams are also sometimes too small to study all the dimensions of the evaluation, such as data protection or visa policy.
Surprise visits to the field have, moreover, proved to be less effective than initially imagined, the Commission acknowledges. Such visits are planned one year in advance and the Member State concerned receives notification the day before the inspection.
In general, the evaluations did not cover the effective and consistent implementation of the key elements of the Schengen acquis, which are essential for the smooth running of the area. Recommendations often focus on overly specific issues rather than the essential elements and do not provide a clear timeline for implementation.
The Schengen evaluation mechanism was launched in 2011 (see EUROPE 10505/24).
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/33ljOp8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)