Today EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers agreed to exclude the Parliament from a role in the shaping of the new Schengen evaluation mechanism, by changing the legal basis from article 77 of the Treaty - meaning that the EP decides on an equal footing with the Council (co-decision) as first proposed by the Commission - to Article 70, confining the Parliament to a mere consultation procedure - meaning the EP position can be totally ignored. This also means, importantly, that EU member states are determined to keep an intergovernmental system of peer assessment rather than allow a stronger 'Community' scheme.
ALDE Group President Guy Verhofstadt said: "How can we trust that the Council will respect one of the major achievements of the EU given that the first thing it decides upon is to weaken the involvement of the Parliament. All our fears and concerns just materialised. By taking this decision, the Council sent a clear signal, namely they will find any excuse to close the borders as they close ranks against us".
"We can't accept this. It is in clear contravention of the spirit of loyal cooperation between institutions. Parliament will examine whether to launch legal action against the Council. We should even consider, if the Council continues with such an attitude, to suspend other legislative negotiations ongoing with the Council ", he concluded.
ALDE coordinator in the Civil Liberties Committee Renate Weber (PNL, Romania) and rapporteur on the second report on the Schengen package, namely on the reintroduction of border controls in exceptional circumstances, commented "Internal border controls requires full mutual trust, the same trust the Council has denied today to the Parliament. Schengen is a matter of common concern, which would need an active role of all EU institutions if we want it to properly respond to any challenges that might occur. It makes no sense for the mechanism to remain intergovernmental since, as it has proven in many instances, this only leads to paralysis".
"Given this 'coup' of the Council, the Parliament has decided to halt negotiations and proceed to the confirmation vote", Mrs Weber concluded. The Parliament was indeed holding negotiations with the Council and the Commission under co-decision procedure to ensure a swift outcome, within a first reading agreement, on the report dealing with the creation of an evaluation mechanism for Schengen. Regardless of today's decision, Parliament has decided to vote on the whole Schengen package this Monday 11 June during an extraordinary Civil Liberties Committee meeting, in Strasbourg .
Sarah Ludford (Lib Dems, UK) , ALDE spokesperson on the report on the creation of an evaluation mechanism for Schengen said: "The 27 governments are making a big mistake in rejecting a robust EU scheme for checking on proper implementation of the Schengen project. The clubby inter-governmental system that they wish to perpetuate has failed to date to deliver either effective management of the external borders on the southern flank or smooth internal free movement. Leaving the foxes in charge of the chicken-coop threatens to end in the death of Schengen".
