On Wednesday, 20 September, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties will take a decision on the Schengen Borders Code reform and the report by France’s Sylvie Guillaume (S&D), following a series of postponements in the spring and deadlock in negotiations—largely related to the terms for extending internal border controls.
After having recently secured support within her own political family, the rapporteur is now also backed by Renew Europe, which considers the latest advances to be balanced, as well as by the Greens/EFA and The Left, both of which want to push for a text that is more progressive than the European Commission’s or the EU Council’s proposals.
On Tuesday, 19 September, questions remained as to the position of the EPP group led by Swedish MEP Sara Skyttedal, who has been opposed to the French MEP’s proposals over the last few months—in particular, her proposal on the framework for internal border control measures, notably Article 27-a-5 and the need for Member States to obtain an opinion from the European Commission in order to extend controls. Nevertheless, the group reportedly plans to support the mandate to begin negotiations with the Council of the EU, which took a position in June 2022.
Proposed in July, the latest amendments—which have yet to find support—kept the issue of instrumentalisation of migrants separate from the Schengen Borders Code; this was still the case on Tuesday. In exchange, the MEP had made a gesture with regard to returns of irregular migrants apprehended during joint police patrols between Member States (see EUROPE 13132/7), which she had agreed to reintroduce into her text.
With regard to Article 27-a-5, the rapporteur proposed that these internal border control measures be re-established for a period of 3 months and extendable for an additional period of 3 months in the event of a serious threat to internal security or public order—these prolongations being renewable after an assessment by the European Commission.
In any case, these control measures should be limited to a maximum period of 18 months (as opposed to the current 2 years, which are also renewable, according to the European Commission).
The most recent proposals put forward by the MEP on Tuesday would have essentially changed the terms for internal controls, which would last for 3 months in the event of unexpected events, over a total period of 18 months. Additional periods in the event of extraordinary circumstances would be set at 3 times (3 months [each]), with solid safeguards and a system for notifying the European Commission and the European Parliament of these prolongations.
On Wednesday, the rapporteur’s aim will be to go to plenary so as to confirm the mandate and not reopen the content of the text.
Some sources said on Tuesday that they were confident a rather large majority would be found with regard to granting the mandate. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)