27/04/2022 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 27 April, the EU Member States approved the reform of the Schengen evaluation mechanism after having heard the opinion of the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12928/14). The latter had called for the abolition of any prior warning to Member States for unannounced visits (see EUROPE 12910/25) and the right to appoint an observer during visits to a Member State after a first visit has revealed a serious problem. Member States, for their part, have defined in their mandate several situations where 24-hour prior notification will be maintained, except for visits related to suspected serious violations. Parliament was only consulted, but the EU Council chose to take up some of its proposals, notably on preventing the risk of conflicts of interest for observers and on the speed of transmission of certain information to Parliament, a source said. (SP)