EU nations in a landmark move yesterday agreed to enable countries to temporarily restore border checks in the visa-free Schengen area in the case of a surge of illegal migrants.
Shrugging off opposition from Brussels and triggering fury in the European Parliament, home affairs ministers unanimously agreed to dust off the border posts should there be excessive pressure from would-be migrants.
France and Germany, which had argued in favour of the change, have said the measure would apply only in extreme cases of illegal immigration.
New French socialist Interior Minister Manuel Valls, taking part in his first such talks, said he had backed the accord because it allowed “addressing serious situations that can arise” such as many people fleeing a worsening crisis in Syria.
Currently, the 26-nation Schengen treaty allows renewal of border controls in case of a terror threat or security threats thrown up by sports or other events. Poland, for instance, is restoring checks for the Euro 2012 football tournament.
But under the new rules, a state within the Schengen area could reimpose border controls for six months, renewable for six more, “when the control of an external border is no longer ensured due to exceptional circumstances” such as these.
Illegal immigration has emerged as one of Europe’s most sensitive political issues amid the debt crisis, slow growth and mounting unemployment. But there was anger in Brussels and among European Parliament members.
“Disappointed by lack of European ambition among member states,” said the EU’s home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström, who opposed the move.
She repeatedly argued that Schengen was never designed to control migration but to ease freedom of movement.
The EU’s Frontex agency in charge of manning borders said registered illegal crossings on the outer borders of the Schengen area shot up by 35 per cent in 2011.
Numbers rose from 104,000 in 2010 to 141,000 the following year, largely due to flows across the Mediterranean Sea.
Responding to a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, France and Germany in April sent Schengen counterparts a joint letter calling for drastic change.
That was before the May election of socialist President François Hollande, who stepped into the shoes of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. Brussels had hoped the new French leadership would shift sides.
Last year France had an angry spat with Italy after Rome issued papers enabling thousands of refugees from the Arab Spring to ride trains across their common border.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, had proposed that states be authorised to close borders for five days in cases of migratory pressure, but would have to seek permission from Brussels for longer periods of time.