EU to step up counter-terrorism co-operation

The European Commission will analyse the current Schengen border code, but a revision of the rules is not at stake.

For a continent still littered with abandoned border checkpoints from a not-too-distant past, the idea of boosting border security is always going to be controversial. Which is why European Union leaders meeting in Brussels last week called for a strengthening of existing cross-border co-operation tools while clamping down on suggestions of a return to uniformed patrols manning the gates.

EU leaders deliberately stopped short of calling for a revision of the EU’s Schengen border code, which governs the EU’s passport-free area, while handing greater powers to external border guards. The beefed-up security arrangement would impose checks on EU nationals returning from abroad – not on Europeans travelling within the 26-country Schengen area.

With last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris still fresh in the minds of European leaders, it came as no surprise that they would want to act on security concerns. Yet the European Council was forced to tread carefully, because both the European Commission and European Parliament had expressed concern about opening up the Schengen code for revision. They feared the debate would offer populist politicians a chance to push for the re-imposition of internal border controls within Schengen.

So it was that member states agreed to proceed to “systematic checks on individuals” without reviewing the border code. In their statement, the EU leaders called upon the Commission to come up with “operational guidelines” on how to do this without violating the Schengen rules. Only if the Commission were to conclude that such systematic database checks are not possible under current rules would EU leaders consider amendments to the code.

However, according to an EU official, once systematic checks are in place, a change to the code would become inevitable. What’s more, some member states, including France, remain keen for a revision to take place sooner rather than later. “This would not be the end of the world,” the official said. “It would not be the end of Schengen but the evolution of Schengen.” In short – an intra-institutional clash over EU security measures is imminent.

The leaders’ statement also calls on the European Parliament to adopt urgently a proposal on sharing passenger name records (PNR) with security agencies. Just a day before the summit, Parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee had given the Council a commitment to end its intransigence on PNR amid privacy concerns and agree to informal ‘trilogues’ – three-way discussions involving the Council, Parliament and the Commission.

Yet here too there is trouble brewing. An EU official suggested Parliament’s insistence that PNR be linked to the unrelated data-protection directive, currently blocked in the Council, has not gone down well with member states. “The thinking of most [national] delegations is that you cannot link these things,” the official said – something justice and home affairs ministers are expected to reiterate when they meet on 12-13 March.

For now, the two sides are sizing each other up. The EU leaders have asked the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a comprehensive European agenda on security in April. The Council will report on the detailed implementation of such moves in time for their June meeting.