'Second class' EU states to fight passport-free travel delays
New states want the old EU15 to keep its political promise of borderless travel for all (Photo: European Commission)
LUCIA KUBOSOVA
27.09.2006 @ 09:45 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Central and eastern European member states are gearing up to fight a projected two-year delay before they can participate in the EU's Schengen borderless zone, believing the reasons for their continued exclusion are political rather than technical.
While the original target date for newcomers to enjoy travelling to western Europe without border checks was October 2007, under the new timetable - proposed by the European Commission – a more likely date is the summer or autumn of 2009.
The commission says that the reasons for the delay are technical and are mainly to do with the completion of a central EU office to store and transfer fingerprints and other security data among the current and new Schengen countries.
But several new member states, particularly the Visegrad countries - Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - are sceptical about the explanations, arguing that the real reasons are political.
Fortress within a fortress
"Some governments are clearly not investing enough effort to head along with this and the commission does nothing to clear away the fog surrounding the real status of their preparedness," the Czech ambassador to the EU, Jan Kohout, told journalists on Tuesday (26 September).
Mr Kohout says that one of the reasons for the delay recently cited by the commission was that the floor in the Strasbourg building where the computers with the central Schengen database should be located was made too thin – an excuse he says is "simply strange."
He noted that some countries have already backed a move to set up a special task force to look into the issue, concerned that the commission's information cannot be relied upon.
The Czech diplomat went on to accuse the commission of "reflecting the political situation and views of some of the [old] member states" adding that its position is not helping to dispel the feeling that the newcomers are regarded as second rate member states in some quarters.
"We have a kind of fortress Europe, with a separate first floor for Schengen countries, plus a citadel for the monetary union," Mr Kohout said.
Maros Sefcovic, the Slovak EU ambassador, noted that while new member states must keep to deadlines in issues such as the phasing out of their nuclear plants, "the commission was very easily ready to drop the Schengen deadline."
The commission has summarily rejected their views. "It is time to stop with these childish and unnecessary conspiracy theories and focus on achieving the Schengen zone's enlargement as soon as possible," the commission's justice and home afffairs spokesman told EUobserver.
Interim solutions
The issue is set to come to a head next week (5-6 October) when EU justice ministers consider whether to approve the re-scheduled timetable for completing the new central database or look into other alternatives.
On Friday (29 September), national IT experts are to explore a proposal by Portugal which suggests that before the new system is finished, the new member states could enter the currently existing database used by 15 Schengen countries.
This would mean that western Europe could lift internal border controls before the new and complicated data-sharing system is operational, with countries later switching to the new system.
But the rebel states are themselves divided on the best way forward. The Czech ambassador hinted Prague might favour Lisbon's scenario as a "technical solution to keep a political promise," but others are mindful of the costs.
Under the original plan, the new member states were supposed to enter the new system straight away - using first the old system and then switching to the new one could mean extra expense.
"If it meant that we would pay quite a lot for joining Schengen a few months earlier - perhaps this would not be enough for us to agree," said one Estonian diplomat.
