Parliamentary question - O-0112/2006Parliamentary question
O-0112/2006

Postponement of the accession of the new Member States to the Schengen area

3.10.2006

ORAL QUESTION WITH DEBATE O-0112/06
pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure
by Zita Pleštinská, Peter Šťastný, Milan Gaľa, Ján Hudacký, Miroslav Mikolášik, Monika Beňová, Vladimír Maňka, Miloš Koterec, Irena Belohorská, Peter Baco, Sergej Kozlík, Tomáš Zatloukal, Jan Březina, Miroslav Ouzký, Jan Zahradil, Oldřich Vlasák, Petr Duchoň, Jaroslav Zvěřina, Nina Škottová, Milan Cabrnoch, Ivo Strejček, Libor Rouček, Joseph Muscat, Aldis Kušķis, Bernd Posselt, Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, Małgorzata Handzlik, Edit Bauer, Rihards Pīks, Paweł Piskorski, Bogusław Sonik, Renate Sommer, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Ioannis Kasoulides, Danutė Budreikaitė, Justas Paleckis, Zdzisław Podkański, Romana Jordan Cizelj, Jan Olbrycht, Pál Schmitt, Alojz Peterle, Tadeusz Zwiefka, Zbigniew Zaleski, Georgios Papastamkos, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Anna Záborská, Guido Podestà, Lívia Járóka, Jerzy Buzek, Zuzana Roithová, Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka, Urszula Krupa, Bogdan Pęk, József Szájer, Csaba Őry, Vladimír Železný, Jana Hybášková, Stanisław Jałowiecki, Ljudmila Novak, Lambert van Nistelrooij, Filip Kaczmarek, László Surján, Alexander Stubb, Jas Gawronski, Barbara Kudrycka, Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Albert Deß, Simon Busuttil, Grażyna Staniszewska, Michael Gahler, Luisa Rudi Ubeda, Czesław Siekierski, Jan Masiel, John Bowis, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Tunne Kelam, Ryszard Czarnecki, Marek Czarnecki, Horst Posdorf, Thomas Ulmer, Ioannis Gklavakis, Nikolaos Vakalis, John Purvis, Béla Glattfelder, Zsolt Becsey, Andreas Schwab, Manolis Mavrommatis, Leopold Rutowicz, Henrik Lax and Charles Tannock
to the Commission

In 2004, the Commission declared that the enlargement of the Schengen area to include the new Member States would be possible after the adoption of vital measures to secure the area’s external borders. The provisional date of accession was set for October 2007.

 

However, a Commission statement made in September 2006 indicates that the date of accession will probably be put back to 2009 because of technical and legal problems relating to the creation and launch of the Schengen Information System (SIS) II.

 

  1. Has the Commission considered alternatives to introducing SIS II, such as temporarily including the new Member States in the current system (SIS I+)? If not, why not? If so, what conclusions were reached?

 

  1. What does the Commission intend to do to maintain the original timetable for the accession of the new Member States to the Schengen area?

 

  1. Boosting public confidence in the EU is vital. The free movement of persons is a practical fulfilment of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Treaties. When, in the near future, will citizens from the new Member States also be able to travel without border controls?

 

 

Tabled: 03.10.2006

Forwarded: 05.10.2006

Deadline for reply: 12.10.2006