On Wednesday 23 February the national ambassadors of the Member States to the EU prepared, without discussion, for the formal meeting of the ministers for home affairs on 3 March in Brussels, which will have on its agenda, among other things, a policy debate on the reform of the Schengen Borders Code presented on 14 December.
The French Presidency of the EU Council, which received initial comments from Member States on this targeted revision of the Schengen Code (see EUROPE 12888/8), has prepared a compromise with these in mind, in which it is not acceding to the request of several countries to include the possibility of the EU budget funding anti-migrant fences as a means of protecting the external borders.
The compromise dated 18 February specifies, among other things, the definition of the instrumentalisation of migrants, which consists, among other things, of a state or non-state actor encouraging illegal immigration into the EU. As regards the surveillance of external borders, the text states that they may be monitored by technical means, including electronic means, surveillance equipment and systems and, where appropriate, stationary and mobile infrastructure.
The compromise maintains the notion of risk to territorial integrity in this definition of instrumentalisation, which Luxembourg had wanted to see removed.
The text also seeks to clarify the new Article 23 of the Schengen Code, which provides for, among other things, joint police patrols and checks on irregular migrants and the objectives of such patrols. The text also refers to the possibility for a Member State to provide by law for an obligation for third-country nationals to report their presence on its territory and an obligation for managers of accommodation establishments to ensure that third-country nationals complete and sign registration forms.
On 3 March, the home affairs ministers of the EU and associated countries will also meet in the first ever Schengen Council proposed by Paris.
Link to the compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/gk (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)