on the proposal for a Council decision on the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in the area of the Schengen Information System in the Republic of Croatia

(COM(2017)0017 – C8‑0026/2017 – 2017/0011(NLE))

(Consultation)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2017)0017),

–  having regard to Article 4(2) of the Act of Accession of 9 December 2011(1) , pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C8‑0026/2017),

–  having regard to Rule 78c of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A8-0073/2017),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal;

2.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

3.  Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to substantially amend the text approved by Parliament;

4.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ L 112, 24.2.2012, p.21.

A. Background

In line with Article 4(2) of Croatia's Act of Accession to the European Union(1) certain provisions of the Schengen acquis are already applicable in Croatia from the date of accession, while other provisions only apply pursuant to a Council Decision to that effect after verification that the necessary conditions for the application of all parts of that acquis have been met, including the effective application of all Schengen rules in accordance with the agreed common standards and with fundamental principles. This verification is done in accordance with the relevant Schengen evaluation procedures.

The present draft decision concerning the application of the provisions relating to the Schengen Information System (SIS) in Croatia is a very first step towards lifting checks at the EU internal borders to Croatia. The lifting of borders will be subject to a separate Council decision at a later stage, following further evaluations.

The Council referred the present draft decision concerning the application of the provisions relating to the Schengen Information System (SIS) in Croatia to the European Parliament. In accordance with the 2011 Act of Accession, these provisions shall only apply pursuant to a Council Decision, after consulting Parliament and after verification in accordance, through the Schengen evaluation mechanism, that the conditions for the application have been met in the Member State concerned.

The Council is only able to take such Decision after Croatia has made the necessary technical and legal arrangements, including relating to data protection, to process SIS data and exchange supplementary information. Accordingly, a Schengen evaluation to verify the level of data protection in Croatia was carried out in February 2016. Following the positive opinion of the Schengen Committee(2) on 6 October 2016, the Commission adopted, by means of Commission Implementing Decision(3) , the evaluation report confirming that a satisfactory level of data protection is met.

B. Position of the rapporteur

The Rapporteur recalls the progress made in terms of access to the evaluation reports and all other relevant information by the European Parliament and in particular the Members of the LIBE Committee.

As part of the agreement on the Schengen Governance Package in 2013 Parliament obtained a much more comprehensive transmission of documents to it than under the previous mechanism.

The Rapporteur also recalls the setting-up within the LIBE Committee of a Working Group on Schengen Scrutiny, which was set-up in order to increase the scrutiny on Schengen Matters and which is actively working to ensure that the Parliament, and in particular the LIBE Committee, is provided with the appropriate tools to exercise its competences, its duty of democratic scrutiny and ensure informed positions on matters regarding Schengen area.

(1) OJ L 112, 24.2.2012, p. 21 (2) Committee established by Article 21 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013. (3) COM(2016) 6870.

Key to symbols:

+  :  in favour

-  :  against

0  :  abstention