The Schengen Agreement no longer works and needs to be reformed. This opinion is shared by French President Emmanuel Macron. Speaking at a press conference, the politician called for strengthening the external borders of the Schengen zone and did not rule out that some countries may remain outside its borders if they are not prepared to adequately protect the European perimeter.
“The people also hold on to their own borders. I believe in open patriotism, in France, which will shine in the international arena. But to be open you need to have boundaries. To take, you need a house. That is, we need borders, we need rules, ”RIA Novosti quotes Macron.
Recall that in late March, Natalie Loiseau, Minister for European Affairs of France, already made a similar statement. The Minister stressed that countries that do not fulfill the requirements of the Schengen zone in the field of border control, must leave the Schengen Agreement.
“This is not a threat, these are the rules of the game,” TASS quotes her words. “We want countries that enjoy the privilege of free movement to make this system work better in the interests of Europeans.” You can't just get the benefits and have no responsibilities. ”
Migration wave
Recall that the Schengen Agreement on the simplification of passport and visa control at the borders of a number of states came into force in 1995. The parties to the treaty are 26 countries, four of which are not part of the EU. Initially, the goals of education of the European Economic Community, one of the future elements of the EU, were to create a free market, to ensure the free movement of goods, people and capital. As European integration grew, the need to lift passport and visa controls within the European community grew. Initially, the agreement was signed by Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Germany, as well as Portugal and Spain, subsequently the number of participants began to increase.
The treaty provides for the introduction of a visa-free regime between the member countries, which can establish only temporary border controls on their own initiative. But for the introduction of such a regime, compelling reasons are necessary.
The debate on the reform of the Schengen Agreement has been going on since 2011, when the number of refugees from the countries of the Middle East to Europe began to grow steadily. Due to the lack of passport control at the intra-European borders, migrants arriving in the EU can almost freely move between the countries of the Union. Most immigrants seek to get to the richest countries able to offer them broad social support. Therefore, migrants are distributed unevenly throughout the EU, which causes discontent among those countries that become the main haven for immigrants. The current situation is unhappy with the countries of arrival of migrants, such as Italy, they have to put up with a large influx of refugees or hope for a system of distribution of migrants to other countries according to quotas.
Earlier, Emmanuel Macron presented his proposals for reforming the Schengen zone in an article for The Guardian. The politician advocated the creation of a unified border service, uniform rules for receiving migrants for all countries within the Schengen zone, and a single department that would deal with the granting of political asylum.
However, Emmanuel Macron is not the first European politician who declared the need to strengthen the external borders of the Schengen zone. Even before the migration crisis of 2015, the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) was launched, approved by the European Parliament. In essence, Eurosur was designed to improve the exchange of information between countries on which areas the flow of illegal migrants is focusing. They are monitored using helicopters, satellite systems and UAVs. The main objectives of the creation of the system were called: the reduction of illegal migration, cross-border crime, as well as the number of victims among immigrants.
- Emmanuel Macron.
- Reuters
- © Philippe Wojazer
Eurosur is part of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), founded in 2004. In turn, the agency is coordinating the work of the border guards of the EU member states belonging to the Schengen zone. Its headquarters is located in the Polish capital.
Brussels had to think about strengthening security measures at the external borders of the EU against the backdrop of the 2015 crisis, when the level of migration to Europe from the Middle East and African regions reached its peak. If previously, about 20-25 thousand people illegally entered the EU annually, then in 2015 this figure jumped, according to some estimates, to 1.8 million.
In 2016, the European Border Guard and Coast Guard Service (ESPBO) earned in addition to the already existing structures that monitor and regulate migration. This structure is subordinate to supranational European authorities and should provide assistance to EU countries facing the influx of illegal migrants. The idea of creating a single European border service belonged to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.
After 2015, the migration crisis began to decline. For example, in 2018, 150 thousand migrants arrived in the European Union - such statistics were presented in the European Parliament. This is the lowest level of migration in the last five years.
- Reuters
- © Giorgos Moutafis
However, experts do not associate the decline in migration with the work of pan-European services. According to Aleksandr Tevda-Burmuli, associate professor at the Department of Integration Processes of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the EU countries do not have enough resources for the European Border Guard Service to work in full force and cover all its borders.
“In a crisis situation, such a service should connect to national structures and help them. And national border guards do not always cope, especially when it comes to southern borders, such as Bulgaria. Now the European structures are getting stronger, but the main burden still falls on the national border services, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
The problems are primarily due to financial reasons - the EU countries are not ready to increase the cost of maintaining national border guards . He can not allocate large funds for the protection of borders and the European Union, whose budget is limited, Alexander Tevda-Burmuli added.
A similar point of view is shared by the general director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin.
According to the expert, the lack of European funding and bureaucratic delays prevent the solution of migration problems.
Meanwhile, Europe may be threatened by a new wave of migration. According to the estimates of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Austria Herbert Kikl, the new flow of immigrants can move to the EU from Turkey. For this reason, in early April, Vienna warned the European Commission that it extends border control with neighboring countries until November 2019, and the Austrian Foreign Ministry called on European authorities to prepare a plan for a new surge in migration.
“Suddenly, there were doubts”
Austria is not the only country where they fear a new wave of migration and would like to strengthen border controls. In the summer of 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that France and Germany support the idea of strengthening the Frontex pan-European agency and creating unified migration rules.
Already in October, the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, proposed, by 2020, increase the number of border guards of the Frontex all-European service from one and a half thousand to ten thousand people and expand its powers. In addition, the service should receive its own fleet and aircraft, Juncker said.
- Jean-Claude Juncker.
- Reuters
- © Vincent Kessler
Oddly enough, this initiative was coolly received by Berlin. In the comments of the German Cabinet, plans to increase the permanent reserve of service to ten thousand people already by 2020 were called “ambitious”. To achieve this figure, Germany, for example, would need to send about 1,200 people to Frontex, and Berlin is not ready for this yet.
However, the most active objections against the expansion of the pan-European border structures are voiced by the members of the Vyshegrad Four. As stated by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravetsky, Warsaw does not support the expansion of Frontex and the increase in funding for the service - it would be more appropriate to direct these funds to the development of the economy, the Polish authorities say.
Similar doubts were expressed by Prague. Last September, Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis said that there was no need for the Frontex agency, since each country itself is engaged in protecting its own borders.
In an interview with Die Welt, the head of the European Commission called such talks "blatant hypocrisy" and recalled how all European leaders called for action to strengthen the external perimeter of the European Union.
“And now many parties suddenly had doubts. This is supposedly interfering with national sovereignty, everything happens too quickly, and the numbers are too high, ”Die Welt quotes the head of the European Commission.
By March 2019, representatives of the European Parliament and EU countries came to a compromise decision - to bring the number of Frontex to five thousand people by 2021, and by 2027 - to ten thousand.
However, the subject of the dispute between European countries is not only the issue of protecting the external borders of the Schengen zone, but also the procedure for granting official asylum to migrants. According to the norms currently in force, a migrant can only seek asylum in the country on whose territory he arrived. At the same time, the EU has a quota system, and some of the migrants are accepted by those countries of the Union, which are located far from external borders. But a significant proportion of refugees settle in countries of arrival, such as Italy. However, some European countries simply refuse to comply with quotas for receiving migrants. These are mainly Eastern European countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.
"Nothing fundamentally new"
According to Alexei Mukhin, Emmanuel Macron’s attack was addressed primarily to the countries of the “Visegrad group” - the irritation of Paris causes the reluctance of Eastern European countries to participate in the distribution of migrants. However, the main motive of the French leader today is to take care of one’s own image, as well as positioning France on the European and world arena, experts say.
- Employees patrol vessel Frontex.
- Reuters
- © Alkis Konstantinidis
“Emmanuel Macron, in anticipation of his departure from the post of German Chancellor, Merkel is trying to pick up the drop-down banner and create an image of a leader who can take care of the future of the EU and the Schengen zone. If Angela Merkel is called the “mother of the EU”, then Macron would like to take the place of the father of Europe. That is why he developed vigorous activity: he spoke about the creation of a pan-European army, the strengthening of European intelligence services. And the topic of migration is no exception. Macron has global goals, ”explained Alexei Mukhin in an interview with RT.
At the same time, the statement about the "exclusion" of a number of countries from the Schengen Agreement is unfounded, I am sure Alexander Tevda-Burmuli. As the expert explained, Macron had previously called for the creation of a separate integration core from individual countries that could resolve issues faster than the EU.
“He didn’t say anything fundamentally new, but the speech is of a conflicting nature. The first application is addressed to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, the Czech Republic. However, in practice, these words will lead nowhere - it is impossible to deprive the country of the Schengen zone just like that; this can only be a collective decision, ”the expert explained.
On the eve of the May elections to the European Parliament, other European politicians will turn to the topic of migration, experts say. According to Aleksandr Tevda-Burmuli, the so-called right-wing populists will speak most actively about illegal migration, in particular, representatives of the German party Alternative for Germany. But representatives of other political camps will not bypass the popular topic - the liberals will voice a positive program of migrants' adaptation to the country and society, the expert believes.
Alexey Mukhin adheres to the similar point of view.
“European politicians will seize the moment of dissatisfaction of the population of European countries with migrants and will talk about the need to reduce the level of migration, streamline migrant flows, simplify the deportation procedure. The only thing that no one will say is about how Russia helped to stop the migration crisis by solving the IS * problem in Syria, ”the expert concluded.
* “Islamic State” (IG) - the organization is recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.