High winds over Schengen

Whether the winds of change blow from Bengasi, Tripoli, Syria or Iraq, the Holy Land or the Balkans, they have a more or less indirect impact on the lives of EU citizens, whether they live in France, Finland or Poland. And while thousands of refugees are landing on the European shores of the Mediterranean, Denmark decided to suspend the Schengen Treaty and reintroduced controls at its borders with Germany and Sweden. Apart from the many issues addressed during the plenary meeting of May 9-12, and beyond the new regulations on textiles labelling, the ban on animal cloning for food production, and a register plan for lobbyists groups, the European Parliament focused on foreign affairs and on the relations with Near East and Mediterranean countries. Across the borders. In the Strasbourg Assembly the President of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso said: “It is indeed a great progress of civilization that countries are able to put borders down and to let citizens flow freely. We need a better coordination between the European Commission and the Member States and above all between the Member States themselves. Solidarity and responsibility are the key words in our response to migration flows”. “Immigration is a European challenge, immigration requires a European response”. Barroso already extended his glance to the upcoming Council of Home Affairs Ministers scheduled to take place on May 12 to address the aforementioned questions. “That is why the Commission’s proposal aims at a step further in Union governance of the Schengen system, showing that there can be solidarity between Member States. It is about common governance, not unilateral moves”, Barroso pointed out. The strengthening of FRONTEX as well as the move to a Common European Asylum System belong to the same strategy. European diplomacy. Similar stances – albeit with different emphases – were also conveyed from other political leaders. Eniko Gyori, Secretary of State for Hungary’s Home Affairs, speaking for the Hungarian presidency of the Council said, “Restrictions to the free circulation in Europe can be introduced only in exception cases and should be the result of joint decisions. We disagree with the removal of the Schengen system”. During the debate MEPs conveyed differing stances. Numerous MEPs defended the handling of migration flows in Italy, Malta, Greece and France; while some MEPs underlined the above-mentioned countries’ unpreparedness vis a vis ongoing migration questions. EP President Jerzy Buzek led the working session, entirely devoted to foreign affairs, to the current situation in Arab countries, to EU-Eastern Europe relations. “The European Union needs to redefine common foreign affairs and security policies – he said -. Addressing internal problems is as important as facing the extra-EU problems”. Buzek pointed out: “Crisis situations are recorded in Lybia, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrein and in many other states. We are called to address these situations. European diplomatic service must prove its efficiency” aimed at “peace-building and for the establishment of democracy in those countries”. A new road map. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton (contested by some areas of the EP) declared: “The events in Northern Africa and in the Middle East are being described as the ‘Arab spring’. For sure, expectations of democracy, freedom and wellbeing are high”. Ashton illustrated the EU’s commitment in Northern Africa and in the Middle East, with pressing situations in Libya, Egypt and Syria. “Democracy is of course about votes and elections – but it is also about far more than that. It requires respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, respect for human rights. And there isn’t only one type of solution for democracy”. “The spectre of religious intolerance – the denial of democracy – casts its shadow. Freedom of religion or belief is a universal human right that must be protected everywhere, while it is used as a political weapon in Egypt”. Ashton made known that soon an EU27 representative office will be opened in Bengasi and underlined two issues: the sanctions against regimes which treat the lives of their citizens as worthless, and crush democratic demonstrations (as in Syria) along with the EU’s commitment “to support the ongoing political changes at economic level and for social development”. “The European External Action service – she underlined – should serve as a tool to prevent and solve conflicts”. To this regard the EP adopted a rather critical resolution: “The EU’s foreign, defense and security policy – states the document – requires a new road map”.