Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-07-Speech-2-313-000"
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"en.20110607.25.2-313-000"2
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"Mr President, Schengen is indeed a fantastic achievement. It is one of the most tangible gifts that the European institutions have given to Europe’s citizens – the fact that, as the Presidency said, you can actually drive from Finland to Portugal without stopping at any border control. We must safeguard Schengen and the latest debate on reintroducing borders must be stopped. We have already discussed on many occasions how we should strengthen Schengen, and not weaken it. We need more Europe on this, and not less Europe. We need better evaluation, better tools and better guidelines and recommendations on how to interpret the Schengen acquis. This will be discussed with Member States in the Council this week, but also later at the European Council at the end of June.
I would like to congratulate Romania and Bulgaria on the considerable efforts they have made. I have seen with my own eyes that they have done a lot of hard work. One of the advantages of being late is that you can benefit from the latest technology. I have been impressed by the technology and the work that has been put in place by Romania and Bulgaria and I would like to congratulate them on these investments. The result is that they both now meet the technical criteria of Schengen and they are committed and deserve the trust of the European Union. The Commission welcomes this report on the work by Romania and Bulgaria and I would like also to thank Mr Coelho and the shadow rapporteurs for this report and this approach.
The Commission has always taken the line that there is no formal link between the CVM mechanism and Schengen accession. But, of course, we all know that access to Schengen is also based on trust, and trust, or lack of trust, has been very much debated in the last weeks. The decision to lift internal border controls with Romania and Bulgaria must not only be based on the technical evaluation but also on this trust, and unfortunately, that trust is not there today. That is why it was so important, as the Presidency outlined, to work with Member States to find a swift solution to this so that borders could be lifted as soon as possible.
This must remain a priority. The Council, which has the say on this, must define a clear framework with clear timetables related to border control so that Romania and Bulgaria can see a way forward. They have demonstrated that they are ready to join, that they have made the necessary progress, and hopefully there will very soon be a possibility to achieve a way forward and a decision by the Council."@en1
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