Debate: The Schengen evaluation mechanism
Date: WEDNESDAY, 6 APRIL 2022
Speaker: Helena Dalli
Language: EN

The Schengen Area is a key achievement of the EU, and it is most treasured by Europeans. To preserve the area of free movement, we need to share responsibility. That is at the heart of what the European project is about, and what Schengen is about. Schengen evaluations are shared responsibly in practice, joint responsibility for keeping our borders safe. We know that the airports in our Member States are not only the gate to a specific Member State but the gate to Europe. Our borders are common borders, protected at Zaventem Airport, in the harbour of Marseilles, and at the Gibraltar border crossing. Schengen evaluations help to protect these common EU borders. There are joint teams of experts from the Commission and several Member States, most recently visiting Spain and Sweden, visiting airports, harbours and other border crossings, asking concrete questions to find out what’s working and what isn’t. Are cameras working? Are border guards making systematic checks into databases? Are they using the Schengen information system in the right way? How do police exchange information? How many returns decisions were issued? And are data protection rules and visa policy being observed? Thanks to past evaluations, based on recommendations, Member States improved border checks, For instance, by increasing number of border guards and increasing training, using EU funds to buy more and better equipment to examine documents. Following one evaluation, a Member State vastly improved its entire national border management system with a new command and control set-up, unified training, and the human resources policy. Still, we can do better, as ever. The Commission has put forward a proposal for a revised Schengen evaluation and monitoring system, with a more strategic approach, shorter and simpler procedures, full respect for fundamental rights. And your report shows that Parliament and the Commission agree to a large extent. I welcome the Parliament’s stance and longstanding call to make unannounced visits truly unannounced. I thank the Parliament for your support on the new decision—making process, leaving regular cases for the Commission, so the Council can focus on politically important or sensitive cases, on serious deficiencies or thematic evaluations. You know that the Commission’s proposal was ambitious. We wanted the ability to carry out unannounced visits without any prior notice in most cases. The compromise reached in the Council does not go this far, but it will allow us to organise unannounced visits without any notice; something which is not possible now, in particular in cases of allegations of serious violations of fundamental rights. And that’s important progress. The new Schengen evaluation mechanism will do more than offer operational improvements. It will give a clear foundation for political decision—making, because it’s time we moved from administering Schengen to governing Schengen. Take responsibility at the political level –Parliament, the Member States and the Commission together – to give Schengen strong political direction, with an annual political cycle, based on an annual state of Schengen report. The first one will be presented by Commissioner Johansson in a few weeks, with the Schengen barometer showing the pressure high or low at our borders, and the Schengen scoreboard showing what’s going well and what can do better, to be discussed at the annual Schengen Forum, involving you, the Parliament. Because democratic accountability is essential, and at the new Schengen Council to ensure political follow-up. I thank you, and I look forward to this discussion.