On Monday 16 June in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s political groups celebrated in their own way the 40th anniversary of the Schengen area (see EUROPE 13659/4). They were divided between those who wanted to adapt the area of free movement to current problems, such as hybrid threats, crime and irregular migratory flows, and did not condemn the internal controls carried out by a dozen or so countries, and those who regretted, on the contrary, the loss of the founding idea of Schengen, “a promise of free movement” belonging to the past.
This relatively short debate was also an opportunity for the PfE and ENS parties to attack the current management of Schengen and the Schengen member countries’ promise to protect the external borders, which had “never been kept”, said French MEP Fabrice Leggeri (PfE).
The former head of Frontex also attacked “Ursula von der Leyen’s pro-migrant ideology, which has left Member States no choice but to re-establish controls”. The French MEP also called for the ‘Asylum and Migration Pact’ to be abolished.
For the Italian ECR member, Nicola Procaccini, there is also “hypocrisy” on the part of the Member States that have re-established measures at their external borders, which in the past have “financed immigration NGOs”.
For Dutch MEP Malik Azmani (Renew Europe), Schengen was “a promise of free movement” and “mutual trust”, but we must also recognise “the challenges”.
However, the answer is not to “hide behind walls, but to strengthen external border controls” and agreements with third countries. Schengen must remain “an example”.
During this debate, the case of Germany was criticised in particular by the Greens/EFA and The Left. Schengen should now be referred to “in the past tense”, said Terry Reintke (German), deploring the intentions of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is “mistreating commuters” and complicating “relations” with neighbouring countries. “He is no longer keeping Europe’s promise”, she added. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)