On Saturday 6 December, Luxembourg’s Minister of the Interior Léon Gloden wrote an op-ed condemning the European Commission’s inaction in the face of the continuing internal border controls carried out by a number of Member States over the past 10 years, particularly in relation to migration flows, which have nevertheless fallen significantly.
France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Austria have been carrying out internal checks for several years now, in response to the migration crisis of 2015 and the terrorist attacks that also took place between 2015 and 2017.
Meeting in Brussels, the Ministers and Representatives of the Ministers of the Interior of the EU27 discussed the health status of the free movement area. Poland used the meeting to highlight the threat posed by Russian citizens receiving Schengen visas for tourism (see EUROPE 13766/2).
“Since the terrorist attacks and especially the migration crisis of 2015, around 10 Schengen States have reintroduced internal border controls, almost without interruption. Today, 10 States still maintain these controls, even though migratory pressure has decreased significantly”, explains the Minister.
“On this issue, the Commission is showing a worrying lack of action. In the last 10 years, it has not sent a single letter asking for explanations from States that resort to the practice of ‘automatic renewal’ of internal border controls”, adds the Minister.
In addition, the Commission has not “carried out any unannounced on-site visits, even though it skilfully negotiated this prerogative. Now it is postponing its opinions on the necessity and proportionality of these controls from month to month. Through its inaction, the Commission has reversed the paradigm and allowed the exception to become the rule, failing in its role as guardian of Schengen and guardian of the Treaties”.
While some countries are maintaining “intelligent” spot checks that are not too intrusive, others are organising static checks on the main traffic routes, to the detriment of “bona fide” citizens and the economies of the neighbouring countries affected.
The practice of illegal pushback at internal borders, introduced in the new Schengen Code, “also threatens the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which established a new balance between responsibility and solidarity. States that have to take charge of people turned away by a neighbouring country will see their capacities reduced, which will reduce their ability to show solidarity with States of first entry, such as Spain, Italy, Greece or Cyprus”.
The Schengen States and the European Commission should work together on alternatives for police cooperation that are more effective, less costly in terms of police human resources and have little impact on cross-border life, recommends the Minister. Modernising bilateral cooperation agreements would render the current practice of internal border controls obsolete, the Minister further suggests.
Link to op-ed (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/jw0 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)