The European Commission (EC) has proposed reforming the Schengen area, taking into account the lessons of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the migration crisis on the border of the EU countries and Belarus. This is stated in a document published on the official website European Commission.
“The proposed changes are aimed at strengthening coordination within the EU, will allow states to get better tools to confront the difficulties in managing the common external borders of the EU, as well as internal borders in the Schengen area,” the text of the document says.
In the context of the migration crisis, like the situation that has developed on the border of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, the European Commission proposes to reduce the number of operating checkpoints, strengthen measures to protect the EU’s external border, and also consider refugee applications for asylum right on the border territory.
In addition, the EU countries to conclude or update bilateral agreements on readmission, to establish more effective cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the border areas – this will allow the deportation of illegal migrants not outside the EU, but to the European country from which the violator directly arrived.
Also, EC members proposed to minimize the introduction of any restrictions on movement within the Schengen area. Since 2015, a number of EU countries have introduced temporary border controls within the Schengen area due to the 2015 migration crisis, terrorist threats and the coronavirus pandemic. The EC proposed streamlining this procedure and introducing similar restrictions by a general decision of the EU Council when it comes to a common threat.
“According to our proposals today, we will ensure that border restrictions are only a last resort, introduced after a general assessment of the situation and only for the required period,” said European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ilva Johansson.
In early November, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the intention of Paris to initiate the Schengen reform. According to him, the first priority will be the introduction of a political administration of the Schengen area, similar to the one that exists in the euro area. Macron called the creation of a mechanism for emergency support of European borders in case of a crisis as his second priority.
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