New plans for the Schengen area, comprising 26 countries, were revealed by the EU’s European Commission on Wednesday to support free movement, after Italy’s COVID-19 outbreak in February 2020 led to 19 countries issuing border restrictions. Currently, eight countries have border restrictions in place due to COVID-19 or security measures.
“Terrorism will not end. We will have new pandemics probably, we will have other challenges coming. What we need is to prepare the governance of the whole Schengen area to be able to face and address these challenges, to secure our citizens while also having free movement,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said to reporters while revealing the union’s new plans. “We are not stronger than our weakest link.”
The EU’s proposal seeks to strengthen Europe’s external borders with the Frontex border agency and with a new digital system to track who enters and leaves countries within the Schengen area.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:
The EU plans to revamp Europe’s ID check-free travel area after national coronavirus restrictions placed new strains on tourism, travel and business throughout the bloc over the last year.
The “Schengen area,” is made up of 22 EU nations plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Normally, people and goods move freely between these countries without border checks.
Last year, some Schengen countries imposed border restrictions without consulting their neighbors to try to keep coronavirus out. The moves caused massive traffic jams and blocked key medical equipment from getting across borders.
Free movement is a pillar of European integration. It helps businesses flourish and many officials worry that the future of the Schengen area is under threat from virus travel restrictions. Those measures have added to border pressures already caused by the arrival in Europe of well over 1 million migrants in 2015.
The new strategy forsees cooperation between police and national security agencies and improved visa policies.
The European Commission said its proposals involve an improved system of monitoring to help restore trust between member countries. Brussels argues that countries would be less inclined to put restrictions in place if they’re confident their neighbors are acting properly.
Another goal is to enlarge the Schengen zone, bringing EU countries Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus into it.
Around 420 million people live in the Schengen zone. Almost 1.7 million people reside in one Schengen nation and work in another, while an estimated 3.5 million people in Europe cross what were once permanent border crossings every day.
Border restrictions are meant to last no longer than 6 months but some countries — notably Austria, France and Denmark — routinely renew them and have done so for years.
The Commission estimates that border restrictions and closures can result in additional costs of 5-to-18 billion euros ($6-to-22 billion) a year.
