The Finnish Ministry of the Interior has announced that the country has launched a new project to assess if any adjustments are necessary to the Border Guard’s authority within the internal border of Schengen Area.
Through a statement issued yesterday, October 16, the same authority said that the main goal is to improve border security and determine whether the Finnish Border Guard has the same power as the border authorities of other European Union member states.
The aim is to promote border security and to find out whether the powers of the Border Guard at internal borders are up-to-date compared to those of the border authorities of other EU Member States.
Internal borders refer to borders between Schengen member states. The Schengen area consists of 27 countries which do not have border controls or travel restrictions between them.
However, temporary border controls may be applied when they are considered essential. The acceding countries of the Schengen acquis are responsible for monitoring the common external border, an important measure to protect the security of the Schengen area, enabling free movement.
In this regard, the Ministry noted that a review is underway that addresses scenarios where internal border controls still need to be restored.
The project’s objective is to conduct an initial analysis of authorities’ powers in other EU member states at internal borders and determine whether similar capabilities can or should be extended within the Finnish legal framework.
As the authority explains, this assessment mainly concerns situations where internal border controls have remained suspended.
According to the agenda outlined in Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Program of Government, the Government of Finland is committed to exploring the necessity of increasing the authority of the Border Guard at internal borders, aligning it with the practices of other EU member states, and expanding these powers where deemed appropriate.
Moreover, the Ministry revealed that the review is expected to be completed by the end of the summer of 2024, with a subsequent decision to launch draft legislation.
In July of this year, when the President of the United States, Joe Biden, decided to visit Finland, the latter planned to reintroduce internal border controls temporarily. Thus, the Finnish government announced that internal border controls would occur from July 8 to July 15.
The Finnish Border Guard has clarified that these internal border controls will not affect the traffic of recreational vehicles. In addition, it has emphasised that within the Schengen states, internal borders can be crossed freely anywhere, including from Finland to Norway or Sweden, as long as passengers have no goods to declare.
