The countries of the European Union reached an agreement this Friday on the reform of the Schengen Code to respond to new threats, such as the use of migrants as a political weapon or the measures to be applied at the borders in the event of a health crisis, after the lessons learned from the Covid pandemic.
The agreement between the states is “a major advance that will allow to better protect the external borders of the EU and preserve the integrity of our area of free movement”French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, whose country chairs the EU Council until June 30, said on his Twitter account.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said upon arrival at the meeting that Spain has always shown full support for free movement in the Schengen area.
“Spain will always maintain that the essence of the Schengen Code must be preserved. It is one of the cornerstones, one of the foundations of the EU,” he said.
The general approach achieved will make it easier for the Council (countries) to start negotiations with the European Parliament, when the latter has adopted its position.
On the one hand, the reform provides for measures against the instrumentalization of immigrants, which occurs when a third country or a non-state actor encourages or facilitates the movement of third country nationals towards the external borders of the EU or towards a member state with destabilizing goals.
This is the situation that the EU experienced last year, instigated by the Belarusian president, Alexandr Lukashenko.
To combat such situations, new measures are introduced, including limiting the number of crossing points at the external border or limiting their opening hours, and stepping up border surveillance.
The text foresees the possible rapid adoption of minimum binding rules on temporary travel restrictions at the external borders in the event of a threat to public health (compared to the non-binding recommendations applied during the pandemic).
Another novelty is the reintroduction of internal border controls through more structured procedures, with stricter safeguards.
It provides in particular that if it is confirmed that the need for internal border controls continues beyond two years and six months, the Member State concerned must notify the Commission of its intention to prolong them, giving a justification and specifying the date on which He hopes to lift the controls and that the Community Executive will then issue its recommendation.
A more effective framework for police checks in the border regions of the Member States is also proposed.
The text introduces a new procedure to deal with unauthorized movements of irregular immigrants within the EU.
In the context of a voluntary bilateral cooperation agreement between the Member States concerned, this mechanism will allow a country to transfer third-country nationals detained in the border area and illegally present on its territory to the Member State from which they arrived. EFE
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