Paris attacks: reinforced controls at Schengen external borders

Controls at the external borders of the Schengen area remain one of the most important safeguards of our freedom of movement and the Member States' internal security and public policies. When this internal security comes under attack, as was the case in Paris in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016, to name just two examples, we have to find solutions to fight back.

We know for a fact that at least two of the Paris attackers were French citizens who had travelled to Syria before they went on the rampage in Paris. This phenomenon is described with the term ‘foreign fighters’: EU citizens who leave for war zones such as Syria and Iraq to receive training for terror attacks which they then commit when they return to Europe.

These foreign terrorist fighters do not only leave many wondering whether Schengen is fit for its purpose in this day and age, they also demonstrate the necessity to strengthen checks on EU citizens at external borders as well.

Reinforcing checks at external borders to detect European foreign fighters

That is the aim of a legislative proposal that the European Commission put forward on 15 December 2015, one month after the Paris attacks. EU legislators want to make it much harder for European foreign fighters to return to the EU undetected and commit an attack.

EU legislators want to make it much harder for European foreign fighters to return to the EU undetected and commit an attack

Therefore, under this legislative proposal, EU citizens will also be checked against the Schengen Information System (SIS) and national databases on a systematic basis. At the moment, this is only compulsory for third country nationals, but not for EU citizens. EU citizens only undergo a minimal check, meaning that the picture on their passport is checked to ensure it is theirs and the passport is verified to ensure it is not expired or fraudulent.

EU citizens will also be checked against SIS and national databases on a systematic basis

The European Parliament is now negotiating with EU Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to agree on these reinforced checks at external borders. It is hoped that they reach an agreement in the coming weeks so that the law can be tabled for a vote in committee in November and in plenary in the European Parliament's January session.

However, there are still some sticking points.

A law guaranteeing security for European citizens

As a general rule, the legislative proposal states that documents of persons enjoying the right of free movement under EU law should be checked systematically, on entry into and on exit from the territory of the Union, against relevant databases related to stolen, misappropriated, lost, fraudulent and invalid travel documents, to avoid people hiding their real identity.

At airports, systematic controls without exemptions are foreseen in the proposal. 70% of travellers into the European Union arrive at airports - new technical facilities make it possible to carry out these checks in a few seconds!

However, the same legislative proposal provides that, if and when these ‘systematic checks’ have a disproportionate impact on the flow of traffic, EU governments can stop these systematic checks and do targeted checks instead at land and sea borders.

At airports, systematic controls without exemptions are foreseen in the proposal. 70% of travellers into the European Union arrive at airports - new technical facilities make it possible to carry out these checks in a few seconds! Will the S&D Group accept this? Originally they were in favour of the exemption for airports as well. We agree with EU Ministers.

The EPP Group wants to identify terrorists and criminals in whatever database they appear!

Another bone of contention is whether Schengen citizen documents are checked against the SIS only or whether these documents are also checked against national databases. EU Ministers want them to be checked against both EU and national databases. The ALDE Group wants them to be checked against EU databases only. Will ALDE accept these checks being made against national databases also? The EPP Group certainly wants checks to be made against all databases, including national. We want to identify terrorists and criminals in whatever database they appear!

Will we bridge these differences? I hope we do and the EPP Group will certainly play its part to have this law approved by the European Parliament during its next plenary session in November.

But more importantly we want a law that guarantees security for our citizens. We won’t accept anything less.