Brussels wants to strengthen the free movenment of persons within the European Union.
• What is Schengen ?
Schengen refers to an area of the EU which enables EU citizens, non-EU residents and visitors to the EU to be able to freely and safely travel within this zone. This area is without any internal borders which allows for free circulation and remains one of the greatest achievements of the EU.
• How are the external border checks of the Schengen zone controlled?
It is the Schengen Borders Code which governs the crossing of the external border. By this, it
harmonizes rules in which all Schengen countries must abide by for a common visa policy.
• What were the issues and the costs of closing intra-European borders during the pandemic?
Due to the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020, many Schengen countries closed theirs borders without consulting neighboring countries. Because of the reintroduced controls, it resulted in:
– long waiting times at the borders
– supply chains were interrupted
– employees could no longer access their jobs abroad
– border controls were reinforced to prevent illegal entry of migrants.
As of now, there are still travel restrictions in at least 6 countries which were not supposed to last more than 6 months, but some countries still renew regularly these restrictions (France, Denmark, Austria, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Hungary).
According to the Commission’s estimates, the cost of travel restrictions and border closures cost between 5 and 18 billion euros per year.
• What does the Commission propose regarding the reform of the Schengen area and the free movement of people?
The Commission has unveiled a new strategy of reform of the Schengen area which focuses on three key points: external borders, internal measures and governance:
– Frontex which represents the EU’s borders control agency will maintain its central role in the management of the EU’s external borders and receive a significant expansion in budget and mandate.
– the introduction of the promotion of a new pact on migration and asylum. However, this proposal is still at a standstill.
– The recommendation of “the introduction of a EU-wide police cooperation code and an upgrade to the exchange of information on DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration”.
– The use of the advance passenger information (API) system which gathers data on passengers that enter the Schengen space as well used for intra-Schengen flights.
– The conduction of unannounced on-site visits for the supervision of the implementation of Schengen rules
– The introduction of new Schengen members: Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.
