European Committee of the Regions rejects
unilateral closures of Schengen borders during
crises and urges the EU and states to consult
regions.
Restrictions at the EU's internal borders should be
re-introduced in crises only as a last resort and
with EU consensus, in ways that minimise disruption
for border regions, and are limited in time, the
European Committee of the Regions has said in
response to European Commission proposals to change
the Schengen Border Code. The revisions – which
would cover the 'Schengen Area' that enables free
movement within 22 EU and non-EU countries – follow
the experience of uncoordinated closures of
national borders during the COVID pandemic.
The proposals also directly address the challenge posed
by countries neighbouring the EU that have eased their
border restrictions to encourage large-scale
unauthorised movements of third-country nationals onto
the EU and to put pressure on the EU's external
borders. The problem – termed the 'instrumentalisation'
of migration in the proposals – was brought to the
centre of public attention in 2021 by Belarus, when it
started to organise flights and internal travel to
facilitate the transit of migrants towards the EU.
The rapporteur for the CoR's opinion on the revised
Schengen Area governance,
Antje Grotheer
(DE/PES), vice-president of Bremen City Parliament,
said: "The unmanaged closure of national borders during
the COVID pandemic was deeply disruptive for border
regions and the freedom of movement. We need to limit
the impact of internal border checks on border regions.
When faced with the instrumentalisation of migrants for
political purposes, we need a clear and restrictive
definition of the term at European level, leaving no
room for misinterpretations, and we should direct our
efforts against the governments responsible rather than
penalise the people who become victims of such
actions."
The Commission's proposals to amend the Schengen
Borders Code clarify and tighten the criteria when EU
member states can impose checks at internal borders.
The CoR opinion, adopted by an overwhelming majority,
welcomed this overall effort. In particular, the CoR
backed requirements to consider the likely disruptive
impact on the social and business life of border
regions, and to include mandatory consultation with
local and regional authorities.
Debate within the CoR focused heavily on ensuring that
border management is efficient, effective and does not
harm regions or curtail the right to asylum for
migrants, many of whom – the opinion noted – are
minors. The CoR argues in its opinion that the proposed
definition of 'instrumentalisation' of migration is
overly broad and lacks clarity, that the impact
assessment accompanying the Schengen proposal is
incomplete and that the proposals create too many
opportunities for derogations, to the potential
detriment of asylum-seekers. The CoR's newly adopted
position suggests putting in place tangible
quantitative and qualitative criteria for qualifying a
situation as 'instrumentalisation' and only use it if
the member state affected is in a position to justify
why the nature of such actions puts at risk essential
state functions.
A decision on when the term is appropriate should be
taken at the EU level, rather than by individual member
states, and should not be used in ways that lower
protections set in international asylum law, the CoR
declared. The CoR said the term should not be applied
in ways that restrict humanitarian-aid operations by
non-state organisations. To help prevention efforts,
the CoR also called for EU delegations to provide
regular situational reports.
Background
In 2020, the European Commission presented a Pact on
Migration and Asylum in which, among its numerous
proposals, it said that it intended to update the
Schengen Area rules in order to boost the 26-country
bloc's resilience to serious threats and to adapt the
Schengen rules to evolving challenges. It proposed a
new Schengen strategy and a revision of the Schengen
Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism in June 2021. The
regulation voted on by the CoR on 12 October 2022 – the
Schengen Border Code on the rules governing the
movement of persons across borders – was presented by
the European Commission in December 2021.
In April 2022, the Court of Justice of the European
Union ruled that the reintroduction of internal border
controls must be limited to six months even in the face
of a serious threat, unless a new threat emerges.
Contact:
Andrew Gardner
, press officer, +32 473 843 981.