Civil Liberties Committee Members of Parliament (MEPs) have backed the proposals on free movement, saying that border controls within the Schengen area can only be reinstated when absolutely necessary.
MEPs said that restrictions and border controls must be temporary, targeted, and justified and adopted a draft report on the reform of the Schengen Border Code with 39 votes in favour.
As the EU Parliament explains, in response to increasingly permanent border controls within the area, the proposal aims to clarify the rules, introduce targeted solutions to threats, and strengthen free movement within the bloc.
By backing the proposals, MEPs want to ensure that the EU responds coherently to large-scale public cross-border health emergencies, thus allowing the temporary introduction of entry restrictions but exempting EU citizens, long-term residents, and asylum seekers from them.
Protecting the Schengen free movement area and what it represents for 450 million Europeans is at the heart of this report. The negotiations have been difficult, but I am delighted we have managed to safeguard the essence of one of the European Union’s greatest achievements.
As an alternative to Schengen border controls, the new rules would promote cooperation of police in border regions.
According to the Parliament, in line with these rules, where nationals of third countries with irregular status are apprehended during patrols, and there is evidence that they have arrived from another EU country, the authorities will be able to transfer these people to that country if it participates in joint patrols.
MEPs want to exclude several categories, including unaccompanied minors, from such returns.
In the draft report, MEPs said that there would need to be a justified reason to reintroduce border controls for up to a maximum of eighteen months. Moreover, they stressed that if a threat persists, more border controls could be authorised by the Council.
In line with the proposal, the reintroduction of border controls in several countries would also be allowed in cases of serious threats for a period of up to two years.
Additionally, at the same time, MEPs have proposed to remove some concepts related to migration from the proposal.
They argued that the provision on the instrumentalisation of migrants should be covered by a separate as well as a dedicated proposal.
The Parliament of the EU previously called for a reform of the Schengen Border Code to strengthen mutual trust and solidarity. Moreover, in April of this year, the EU Court of Justice ruled that border controls can only be reinstated because of serious threats and may not exceed six months.
