On Thursday, 2 June, the European Commission convened the third Schengen Forum bringing together members of the European Parliament and home affairs ministers of the current and future presidencies of the Council of the EU to exchange views on the state of the Schengen area on the basis of the latest State of Schengen Report that was recently adopted (see EUROPE 12959/19).
The forum was held as Member States will be called upon to approve a general approach on the revision of the Schengen [Borders] Code on 10 June (see EUROPE 12963/6). To this end, on Thursday, Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson called on Member States to take this step.
Discussions at the forum focused on the management of the external borders and how to achieve effective management of the external borders, according to a European Commission press release. Participants also discussed internal border controls in the light of the recent ruling from the Court of Justice in Joined Cases C-368/20 and C-369/20 (see EUROPE 12939/9), stressing that internal border controls should remain an exceptional measure that is used as a last resort. Strengthening internal security through reinforced police cooperation was another topic of discussion—having the interoperability of information systems in 2023 in mind.
Imbalance
The discussion on Thursday was perceived by some as being somewhat unbalanced and as having only given relatively little prominence to the European Parliament. Various home affairs ministers, including the minister from Sweden, have reportedly stressed the importance and usefulness of these internal border controls in fighting crime, for example, and even the importance of preserving this competence of the Member States, which must be able to decide at a national level to reintroduce controls.
Part of the discussion also reportedly focused on the return of irregular migrants and the need to increase these returns—an action that the European Parliament and its representative, Juan López Aguilar (S&D, Spain), reportedly did not consider to be the top priority. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)