The national ambassadors of the Member States to the EU did not close the door, on Wednesday 1 June, to an agreement on 10 June in Luxembourg on a general approach to the reform of the Schengen Borders Code, even if changes will still have to be made to the provisions on the reintroduction of internal border controls.
These provisions are among the most sensitive of the reform and the text, as it stands, is still considered “unacceptable” by some delegations who are said to be confident that the French Presidency of the EU Council will do what is necessary before the next meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives.
“We’re almost there”, said one source, “but we still have work to do”.
France aims to secure this agreement at the meeting of interior ministers and has been fine-tuning compromises on the aspects covered by the reform, namely the instrumentalisation of migrants, the procedures for transferring irregular migrants between Member States or the modalities of non-essential travel in times of pandemic.
However, the Court of Justice judgment of 26 April led France to strengthen the justification and supervision requirements for reintroducing and extending internal border controls. And it is on this last aspect that interventions focused on Wednesday, according to this source, with informal consultations to be held with the Member States most concerned by these controls, in particular to insist on the “last resort” nature of these border measures.
The new wording of Article 27a on the arrangements for notifying and consulting the Member States on these reintroductions of controls does not yet meet with approval either. Further suggestions are expected to be made.
On the instrumentalisation of migrants, there is more or less a consensus on the latest definition and on the modalities of surveillance of external borders. Nor were there any particular difficulties with the transfer procedures, suggesting a positive outcome on 10 June.
Doubts about the ‘Asylum Pact’
The ministers, who will be meeting in the Schengen Council, will also have an exchange of views on Frontex over lunch on 10 June, but there is still some doubt as to the place that will be given to the discussions on the Asylum Pact and the first phase of the gradual approach pursued by Paris, given that the discussions on 24 and 25 May on the solidarity mechanism for people rescued at sea (see EUROPE 12958/7) were not necessarily fruitful and that little concrete progress has been made on reception commitments.
The Presidency will reportedly submit a new version of the declaration. The progress towards the adoption of the ‘Screening’ and Eurodac regulations depends on this solidarity mechanism and the ability of the Med5 (Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Spain, Malta) to accept it. The Med5 have yet to finalise a common position and will meet on 4 June in Venice.
Link to the draft general approach on Schengen: https://aeur.eu/f/1wf (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)