EU leaders on Friday (24 June) agreed to establish a “safeguard mechanism” allowing the re-introduction of internal borders in exceptional circumstances, potentially curbing one of the most integrative aspects of EU membership.
VALENTINA POP | EUOBSERVER.COM
Without undermining this basic principle [of free movement of persons], we felt the need to improve the Schengen rules," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said at a press conference at the end of the summit.
The mechanism would allow "as a very last resort, (…) the exceptional reintroduction of internal border controls in a truly critical situation where a member state is no longer able to comply with its obligations under the Schengen rules as concerns the prevention of illegal immigration of third country nationals, with negative effects on other member states," the final statement said.
The commission is supposed to work out the details of the arrangement by autumn.
The debate was prompted by a row between Rome and Paris earlier this year over Tunisian migrants who had made their way to Europe following the democratic uprisings in north Africa.
According to diplomats present during the negotiations on the final text early Friday morning, the new member states insisted on including the term "third country national" – Brussels jargon for non-EU citizens, so as not to leave any doubt about their own citizens, particularly Roma.
Corruption
In addition to the Roma issue, corruption-wary countries led by the Netherlands insisted that the two countries be kept out of the Schengen area as long as they do not fight graft and organised crime in a more muscular way.
Dutch diplomats asked for the Schengen criteria to be extended so as to cover corruption, by saying that problems will always arise at the borders if there is corruption in a country.
Despite agreeing with this idea in principle, Romania and Bulgaria said they feared this would become an unfair and additional criterion in September or October, when home affairs ministers are set to decide an entry date for the two countries.
In the final text, a stronger evaluation of Schengen criteria is foreseen for all countries in the border-free area, but corruption is not mentioned.
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