The reform of the Schengen area is one of the priority issues that Emmanuel Macron will have to address during the French presidency of the EU in the first half of 2022. In the meantime, the European Commission presented, Tuesday, December 14, its draft reform of this free movement space intended to limit internal border controls in order to preserve the single market, while partly responding to the concerns of Member States on migratory movements. “Like all successes, Schengen must be strengthened to face the many challenges”, said Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas presenting the proposal.
While Schengen is in principle an area of free movement without internal border controls between 26 countries (22 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), several have re-established random border identity checks in recent years, following the 2015 migration crisis and the terrorist threat. More recently, the traffic restrictions imposed by member states to fight Covid-19 have further fragmented this space.
This is what this reform proposal contains, which will now be submitted to the European Parliament and the Member States for negotiations.
Avoid border controls
The Commission proposal opens up the possibility for a Member State to apprehend a migrant in an irregular situation in a border area and transfer him to the neighboring Member State through which he arrived, instead of having to send him back to his country of origin. ‘origin as is currently the case. But on two conditions: that the migrant is apprehended as part of a police operation carried out jointly by the two countries, or that there is a readmission agreement between these two States, which the Commission now encourages the conclusion of.
By allowing this procedure in these border areas, the Commission wishes to avoid as much as possible checks at the border itself, which disrupt the proper functioning of the internal market and the free movement of people and goods.
In addition, if these checks are reinstated, if they last more than eighteen months, the Commission will have to issue an opinion on their proportionality. It’s not about “no veto”, said Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs. Corn “the more the controls are prolonged, the more (the Member State) will have to argue, demonstrating that they have considered alternative measures and why they are not sufficient”.
Learning from the pandemic
The European executive also wants to learn the lessons of the pandemic, by making more restrictive the coordination of access restrictions to travelers from third countries taken at the external borders of the Schengen area to fight against the spread of the virus. For example, when it comes to prohibiting entry to travelers from particularly affected areas or subjecting them to the obligation to present a vaccine certificate or a negative PCR test.
This harmonization is necessary to avoid there again internal controls in Schengen because, once entered the block, a traveler can in theory move there freely. In the new framework proposed by Brussels, coordination would come under a binding decision by the Council, which represents the Twenty-Seven.
Prevent the instrumentalization of migrants
The European executive also wants to respond to a situation of instrumentalization of migrants by a third country, as recently in the case of Belarus, accused of having organized the arrival of refugees on its territory, who then try to enter the European Union.
To enable Member States to deal with this scenario, and as it recently did for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia faced with migrant arrivals, the Commission is proposing exceptional asylum procedures, in particular by extending the deadlines for registering requests.