The French president takes advantage of these six months when France chairs the Council of the European Union. This Wednesday, February 2, he went to Tourcoing, in front of the 27 interior ministers of EU countries. While they must discuss the subject this Thursday and Friday in Lille, the French president presented a reform of the Schengen area.
“Schengen was conceived in a very different time from the one we live in today. Before the resumption of terrorism on European soil, before the Libyan crisis, then in recent months, before a transformation that is underway and which makes immigration a form of hybrid weapon of powers that want to destabilize us. For all these reasons, we must rethink the balance of Schengen.”
For this, Emmanuel Macron proposed to install a Schengen council. “So that the ministers can take decisions, politically steer this space and its common borders. Basically, as we do with the Euro”.
This council would make it possible to adopt a common migration policy, but also to act more quickly, together, in the event of a migration crisis. It could meet for the first time on March 3, the date of the next meeting of EU ministers.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Sweden’s Ylva Johansson detailed the “serious vulnerabilities” of Schengen: “Last year Frontex estimated that 39 million people entered the Schengen area without being checked in the Schengen Information System”
The situation in Calais? It is a subject between the Europeans and the British
Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the situation in Calais. Where between 400 and 500 migrants stay permanently, waiting to reach the United Kingdom. “The women and men who try to cross the Channel, in absolutely terrible conditions, absolutely want to reach British soil. But today, legal economic immigration is not organized on the British side. If we do not resolve this problem, we will not be able to deal with the subject that we have in Calais or Grande-Synthe.”