Schengen area and cross-border cooperation
News Security 13 December 2024
Council of EU home affairs ministers: Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen area.
Border checks at the EU’s internal borders with Romania and Bulgaria to end entirely on 1 January 2025. The EU home affairs ministers agreed on this step at their Council in Brussels on Thursday. “I am pleased that we have finally taken this important major step. Germany has supported Romania and Bulgaria in this process for years, which I made clear during my visit to both countries this year,”
said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser. “Romania and Bulgaria have undertaken great efforts to meet all of the standards. It’s important that we recognise these visible efforts towards stronger protection of the EU’s external borders,”
Federal Minister Faeser said in Brussels.
The EU Council also addressed the implementation of the CEAS legislation in national law and the improvement of general security through digital technologies. Their joint efforts in the fight against child sexual abuse were also on the meeting agenda. Additionally, in the margins of the meeting, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser concluded an agreement with the Netherlands on intensifying police cooperation.
Germany and the Netherlands boost cooperation on fighting terrorism and organised crime
The new joint declaration of intent to intensify bilateral police cooperation supplements the provisions of the 2005 Enschede Treaty on police cooperation between Germany and the Netherlands. The declaration arose from the desire for a legal basis for cooperation between German and Dutch special police units in the cross-border fight against terrorism and organised crime. “The working relationship between our countries’ police officers rests on a strong foundation of cooperation and trust. I hear this regularly from my counterparts in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia”
, Federal Minister Faeser said. “Today’s agreement will further intensify this cooperation.”
Border security in the EU – expansion of the Schengen area
Having fulfilled the criteria for security at their external borders, Romania and Bulgaria will fully accede to the Schengen area on 1 January 2025. Ahead of the meeting, Federal Minister Faeser welcomed this step. She also emphasised that internal border checks in Germany are necessary until the EU is better able to distribute migrants. To open the borders within the Schengen area, the rapid national implementation of the legislation on the CEAS that was adopted this summer is needed. “Of course, the open borders of the Schengen area are very significant for Germany, but they require a better distribution of refugees in the European Union,”
the Minister said. She added that the greater use of digital technologies in the security architecture of the Schengen area would improve overall security. Minister Faeser stressed that existing systems would need to be stabilised for this.
The current situation in Syria
The EU Council also discussed the current situation in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime. In advance of the Council, Minister Faeser made clear that there were no concrete prospects for returns to Syria for the time being, given the complicated situation there. The Minister also underscored that “Syrians who work here, who are integrated into our society, are very welcome to stay in Germany”
. After Assad’s fall from power, the European Commission voiced its opposition to any overly hasty discussion of deportation. In Brussels, Federal Interior Minister Faeser expressed her support for a coordinated European approach to return programmes and deportation issues. “It would be highly effective to organise this together”
, she emphasised. The Minister added that the EU needed to all be working with the same data on how the situation in Syria is developing.
EU legislation to fight migrant smuggling
On Friday, the Council of the EU adopted its position on an important EU directive on combating migrant smuggling. This directive will make criminal law on migrant smuggling more uniform across the EU. This step is important so that authorities can take tough and decisive action against dangerous migrant smuggling networks throughout the EU, which requires uniform standards and definitions in criminal law in this area. In a statement, the Federal Government once again made clear that humanitarian support for refugees and rescue at sea must not be criminalised.
“These are dangerous and often armed organised crime groups. They exploit people’s desperation by smuggling them into the EU in extremely dangerous boats or vehicles”
, Interior Minister Faeser said. According to Europol estimates, 90% of migrants who enter the EU without visas are smuggled. Many people have lost their lives while being smuggled. “We have already achieved major investigative successes”
, Minister Faeser said, “but we still need to step up our fight against the migrant smuggling networks.”
Further information is available on the European Council website.