http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15902671,00.html
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned repeatedly in the run-up to
Sunday's presidential election that if countries bordering non-Schengen
nations fail to comply with their obligations to secure the frontiers
appropriately, France have no choice but to protect its borders against
illegal immigration by reinstituting passport controls.
This week, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is singing
from the same hymn book. He and his French counterpart Claude Gueant
wrote a letter to the Danish EU Council Presidency, calling for
countries to have the right to reintroduce checks at the internal
borders for no more than 30 days.
It is an election campaign maneuver, say critics, who reacted promptly.
But Ska Keller, a German member of European Parliament for the Greens,
said she believes there is more to the joint letter than just electoral
politics.
"France and Germany want to put their fingerprint on the direction the
discussion is going to go at the next Council meeting in June," she
said.
Reforming border controls
The German-French initiative comes after months of smoldering conflict
among EU states about a possible revision of the Schengen accord. Its
key elements are the abolishment of border controls between member
states as well as coordinated security policy and border control on the
common external frontiers.
But some countries on the periphery of the Schengen area have massive
problems coping with the influx of refugees and asylum seekers. Italy,
for instance, was confronted with a huge wave of refugees from Arab
countries. Currently, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are trying to
get into Europe via Turkey and Greece.
Keller said patrolling internal border controls are not the
appropriate way to deal with refugees. She added that while the European
Union is praising the democracy movements in the Arab world, it is not
making constructive suggestions as to how to support immigrants from the
region in the difficult period of transition. And 30-day controls,
Keller said, would prove ineffective anyway.
Renate Sommer from the European Parliament's Christian Democratic group
agreed reintroducing internal border controls is not an appropriate
measure.
"Illegal immigrants usually don't go via the border checkpoint anyway, so controls wouldn't make any sense," she said.
Instead, Sommer suggested that the EU reinforce the protection of its
external frontiers by enhancing the EU border protection group Frontex.
In addition, reintroducing controls on Germany's borders would entail a "traffic meltdown," Sommer said.
"We simply can't afford it. Germany is the number one transit country
for heavy duty traffic. It would hurt our economy if we reintroduced
border controls," she said.
Power struggle
The current discussion is about more than just illegal migration,
however. It is also a new chapter in the power struggle between the
national states and Brussels on the one hand, and between the various EU
institutions on the other.
The EU Commission, the 27-member bloc's executive arm, presented a
reform agenda for the Schengen accord last year, suggesting it become
the sole body to decide whether border controls can potentially be
reintroduced.
EU member states vehemently opposed the plan, with support from the European Parliament.
Sommer said the Commission was trying to gain powers that undermine
countries' national sovereignty. She said the European Parliament would
not lend its support to the initiative proposed by the German and French
interior ministers.
"There's agreement among all the groups in the European Parliament that
we will not allow member states to push through national solo
attempts," she said.
Author: Rachel Gessat / nh
Editor: Sean Sinico
