WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2674/98 by Gerhard HAGER to the Commission. Assistance to enable applicant countries to meet the Schengen criteria
C 135/20 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 14. 5. 1999 5. According to the Commission’s estimate, what percentage of expenditure on all Community programmes is being used to assist the applicant countries? 6. Austria is among the more recent Schengen Member States, and the cost of meeting the criteria regarding external border controls was particularly high because of its location (its long Schengen external border). Has Austria received any assistance in meeting the cost from Community programmes? (1) OJ C 354, 19. 11. 1998, p. 85. (1999/C 135/024) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2674/98 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission (1 September 1998) Subject: Assistance to enable applicant countries to meet the Schengen criteria It has been repeatedly stressed that, if they are to qualify for membership, applicant countries must take over the acquis communautaire and hence the EU standards governing external border checks. The effectiveness of the applicant countries’ border policing is currently attracting increasingly voluble criticism, and the doubts whether the above-mentioned criterion is being fulfilled are mounting. That was why, when it addressed Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 July 1998, the Presidency-in-Office of the Council expressly called on the Commission to seek ways of helping the applicant countries to secure their borders, pointing out that the external borders of the 11 countries in question, placed end to end, were 6 600 km long and it was necessary to comprehend that order of magnitude. 1. 2. How will the Commission comply with the above request? Is it already making practical preparations? How much funding is it envisaging? 3. Which budget headings should be used to provide the appropriations, and what legal bases will be invoked to implement the corresponding expenditure? How can such aid be justified, given that other Member States have recently had to rely solely on 4. their own resources in order to meet the Schengen criteria, even though, as far as Austria on its own is concerned − to name but one example − the external border as defined for Schengen purposes is 2 400 km long? Joint answer to Written Questions E-2126/98 and E-2674/98 given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (11 November 1998) Declaration No 44 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam states that, upon the date of entry into force of that Treaty, the Council shall adopt all the necessary measures referred to in Article 2 of the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European Union, and in particular the Decisions defining the Schengen acquis and breaking down its components between the first and third pillars. Preparatory work is under way on these measures. The Council Decisions mentioned above will be published in the Official Journal. Pursuant to the Schengen acquis on the implementation of the Schengen provisions and to Article 2(2) of the Schengen Protocol, the Council, acting with the unanimity of the Schengen members, will decide whether applicant countries have implemented the Schengen acquis and can take part in the area without internal frontiers. This decision will be taken after ensuring that all the preconditions are met, including controls and surveillance of external borders in accordance with Schengen standards. In December 1994 the European Council meeting at Essen decided, as part of the preparation of the associated countries for accession to the Union, to extend cooperation with these countries to third-pillar matters (including border controls, asylum, immigration, police and customs cooperation, and judicial cooperation). To implement this decision, the Commission requested a report on the needs of the countries