Following today's agreement between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on the functioning rules of the Schengen free movement area, Portuguese MEP Carlos Coelho said: “With the approval of the new Schengen Evaluation System, we are improving the protection of the freedom of movement and reinforcing the security of European citizens.”

The system is innovative because it:

•  entrusts the Commission with the coordination of the evaluation process in implementing the Schengen aquis;
•  is based on a European approach, expecting the involvement of the European Institutions (opposed to a purely intergovernmental approach);
•  explicitly foresees the possibility to evaluate if any illegal controls are been carried out at internal borders;
•  guarantees higher rigour by enabling accurate assessments, to be brought to bear on the degree of compliance with Schengen rules and providing for prompt corrective actions to dispel any feeling of impunity, contributing to the reinforcement of mutual trust between Member States.

“We are creating a truly European evaluation system that will help Member States with difficulties at their external borders; it will fight the illegal reintroduction of border controls at internal borders and will also be able to identify all security risks in the Schengen area with the implementation of surprise visits and the inclusion of specialised agencies such as Frontex”, explained Coelho.

“According to Eurobarometer (the EU's polling organisation), more than 60% of EU citizens recognise the freedom of movement as the main achievement of the European project and we needed to improve the rules of the Schengen governance in order to protect and preserve that valuable freedom”, he concluded.

The Schengen area is a free movement area involving 22 EU Member States and four other countries outside the EU (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) where around 400 million European citizens have the right to move freely.

There are still three EU Member States outside the Schengen Area that are legally bound to join in (Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania) and two opt-outs (Ireland and the UK).

For further information:
Carlos Coelho MEP, Tel: +32-2-2845551
Francisco Correia da Silva, EPP Group Press and Communications Service, Tel: +32-470-830567

Notes to Editors:
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 269 Members and 3 Croatian Observer Members.