European Commission
Malmström

Schengen is on of European Union’s greatest achievements. It allows for the around 400 million citizens living within the Schengen area to travel freely without having to go through bureaucratic procedures or border controls. In addition, it has been extremely important for the internal market. But for the cooperation to work, the Schengen countries must follow  common rules and trust each other.

The monitoring and evaluation of  Schengen is today inadequate which is why I already proposed last year that the monitoring of the system should be strengthened. During the spring, we have unfortunately also seen several examples where countries have stretched the rules governing the Schengen area which have resulted in distrust between the Schengen countries and in Schengen cooperation. The heads of state and governments at the EU summit in June gave the Commission a mandate to develop a proposal to reinforce Schengen and to clarify the rules that apply when a country needs to reintroduce border controls.

Today I presented this proposal at a press conference in Brussels. We propose to introduce a “health check” of the Schengen cooperation. This means that the Commission will make both announced, as well as unannounced visits, to member states and monitor the compliance of the schengen rules.  In this way, deficiencies can be detected at an early stage and we can quickly deploy measures to help the countries address the problems. The Commission will also present regular reports on Schengen cooperation and these will be discussed twice per year in the Council and the Parliament.

We also suggest that the decision-making for the reintroduction of border controls for a limited period should be taken at the European level, i.e. when a member state considers that the reintroduction of border controls is necessary due to a serious threat to public policy and internal security, the other Schengen members should be part of the decision. However there may be emergency situations where a country quickly has to re-establish border controls, for example in case of a nuclear accident, a terrorist attack or an epidemic. It will of course still be possible for Member States to unilaterally reintroduce border controls in emergency situations requiring immediate action, but only for a 5 day period. If the controls need to be extended for more than five days, this is also a decision which should be taken at European level. If other long-term problems arise with insufficient border controls on the external borders, it might be necessary, in extreme cases, to reintroduce border controls. But such decisions should be taken jointly by the EU and the Member States. Schengen Member countries should not need have to learn through reading the newspaper that their neighbour wants to reintroduce internal border controls. They should be involved in such decisions, as Schengen is a joint European project.

I am convinced that these proposals, combined with earlier identification and stronger support for countries having difficulties in managing their external borders, will strengthen European cooperation and that it will also lead to greater transparency, confidence and a much stronger Schengen. It will also avoid situations in which individual member states unilaterally use the border as part of a domestic political game.

Find more information about the proposal at DG Home’s website.