Schengen reform: Key challenges and proposals

The Schengen area without internal borders has been under stress over the past decade owing to several successive crises, including the sudden arrival of large numbers of people across the EU's external borders, persistent threats to internal security, and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Although according to the Schengen rules the reintroduction of border controls at internal borders should be a temporary and exceptional measure, several Member States have maintained internal border controls uninterruptedly for more than six years. The massive and largely uncoordinated internal border controls and other restrictions to freedom of movement imposed at the beginning of the pandemic revealed several shortcomings in the Schengen systems. These shortcomings concern Schengen's normative framework (gaps in the legal framework), implementation and enforcement (at internal borders and in the management of external borders), and governance (including evaluation and strategic direction). Building on previous attempts to reform the Schengen system, and responding to renewed calls for reform, in December 2021 the European Commission presented a new Schengen strategy. This was accompanied by several proposals and measures aimed at revising the Schengen rules, enhancing police cooperation, reinforcing the management of external borders and strengthening the overall governance of Schengen. The European Parliament has repeatedly stressed the need to safeguard the Schengen area, urging the Member States to remove all unjustified controls at internal borders and asking the Commission to enforce the Schengen rules properly. In the context of the pandemic, Parliament called for a 'recovery plan' for Schengen and for 'truly European governance of the Schengen area'.