European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said the "spirit of Schengen" must be safeguarded as he warned against equating terrorists with refugees and migrants in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday morning , Mr Juncker said that those who perpetrated the attacks of November 13th were exactly the people who forced people to flee to Europe.
He warned that Europe’s single currency could be in jeopardy if the Schengen passport-free travel zone is dismantled “If the spirit of Schengen leaves our lands and our hearts, we will lose more than Schengen. A single currency makes no sense if Schengen falls. It is one of the keystones of European construction,” he said.
The head of the EU’s executive arm conceded that the Schengen system, which guarantees free travel between 26 countries is “partially comatose.” “Those who believe in Europe and its values, in its principles and freedoms must try — and try they will — to reanimate the Schengen spirit.”
Europe's free travel area has come under pressure in the wake of both the refugee crisis and the terrorist attacks in Paris. A number of EU countries were forced to impose border controls to help stem the flow of refugees entering their country this year. France has also introduced border checks at its border with Belgium in the wake of the November 13th atrocities in Paris.
Mr Juncker's comments were made as French prime minister Manuel Valls warned that Europe cannot accept more refugees, potentially putting France at odds with Germany and the European Commission who have been pushing for a long-term relocation programme for refugees. French president Francois Hollande is due to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel for talks today.
“ We cannot receive more refugees in Europe,” the French prime minister Manuel Valls told journalists in Paris on Tuesday “I told (vice chancellor) Sigmar (Gabriel) we cannot receive any more. This doesn’t mean I’m criticising Germany. Germany made a choice which is to her honour, but she has to assume her responsibilities. Do you think Belgium or France will receive more refugees today? No. No. No. For me, things are very clear. The solutions are over there (in the region).”
Mr Valls said that France will fulfil its commitment to accept up to 30,000 refugees in 2015-2016, but warned that the French public was aware that some of the terrorists who carried out the November 13th attacks had entered the EU through the refugee route. “Public opinion is aware that (at least two of the jihadists who carried out the Paris attacks) entered Europe by mixing in with the refugees,” Mr Valls said. “That raises the problem of Europe’s capacity to keep the wave of immigration under surveillance, to enforce its decisions about controlling its borders and assess individuals in ‘hot spots’. “
During this morning's debate on the terrorist attacks in the European Parliament, French MEP Marine Le Pen called for national borders to be re-established inside Europe. She said that terrorists were entering the European Union alongside migrants. "It is a reality, and you cannot simply brush it to one side. You can't have uncontrolled migration flows into the EU."
She continued: “We need to return to our national borders because we simply don’t have confidence in Europe’s borders.” Ms Le Pen also criticised the EU’s austerity policy which she said had led to “fewer soldiers, fewer policemen” on the streets of France. “We’ve had enough of your austerity polices. You decided on the budgetary policies – budgetary sovereignty should be reinstated.”
German MEP Elmar Blok said that this was “not a fight against Islam” noting that refugees cannot be tarred with the same brush as terrorists. He also denounced criticisms of Schengen.
"It's not a question of blaming Schengen – we have to force our intelligence agencies and secret service agencies to cooperate," noting that only five member states fulfil their contractual obligation to provide Europol with all requested information.
Green MEP Jan-Phillip Albrecht said that the Passenger Name Record directive currently being adopted by the European Union was not the answer to the terrorist threat, describing it as “an extraordinary expensive model of 28 silos full of completely irrelevant information on innocent travellers. We already know who is on which plane in Europe... we need targeted and joint information sharing.”
