Schengen: The first three months
01 May 1995
Austria became the 10th member of the Schengen Agreement on 28 April joining Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France Germany, Spain and Portugal who have implemented the Agreement. Italy and Greece have signed the Agreement but not implemented it yet (partly because they are not yet linked to the computer database, the Schengen Information System, SIS). Denmark has observer status and Finland applied for observer status on 5 April. The admission of Denmark, Finland and Sweden is dependent on an agreement being reached that the Nordic Passport Union can be maintained - this includes Norway which rejected EU membership in a referendum last year and Iceland. A Nordic Union official commented: "In reality the Nordic countries have had Schengen cooperation for 40 years". Of the 15 countries in the European Union (EU) only the UK and Ireland (which is tied to the UK position because of a common travel area) are neither members or trying to join the Schengen Agreement. The Agreement is based on the removal of internal border controls "compensated" by external and internal controls on immigration, police cooperation, and the Schengen Information System.
At the meeting of the Schengen Executive Committee in Brussels on 28 April it was agreed to create a second communications network between the Schengen countries - SIRENE Phase II - because of the rapid growth of demands for exchanging police and immigration information. The meeting also discussed the situation of Norway and Iceland who are precluded from formal membership of the Schengen Agreement because they are not members of the EU (Article 140). Mr Robert Urbain, the Belgian Minister for European Affairs, who chaired the meeting said this did not stop "us from seeking appropriate associate partners" providing they had "full respect for the Schengen acquis", accepted they could not take part in the work of the Executive Committee and gave "absolute agreement for the functioning of the Schengen Information System". He concluded that this was a concession to the existence of the Nordic Union "but does not mean that the member states of Schengen would be prepared to undertake this type of "a la carte" enlargement to Eastern countries". On 16 June an agreement was reached between the Nordic Union and Schengen which will allow Norway and Iceland to become associate members. The next meeting of the Executive Committee on 29 June will review the 1 July deadline for the removal of ground-based border controls - the French Senate having voted for a six month extension on 21 June.
At the meeting of the Bulgarian-EU association council in Brussels on 4 June the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Georgi Pirinski, protested that the implementation of the Schengen Agreement at its border with Central and Eastern Europe has led to unacceptable delays, questioning, and visa procedures. Bulgaria is one of six countries in the region with "associate" status with the EU.
The Polish government refused a request from Germany to create a two-tier system on its side of the border - a fast lane for EU citizens in line with the Schengen Agreement and a slower one for other people. The Foreign Ministry in Warsaw said: "The fast lane will stop at the Polish frontier barrier. We will not agree to Poles being treated as second-class citizens". German frontier controls require all non-Schengen entrants to be checked with the SIS central computer. One of the first to be refused entry to Germany was a Polish person who had a criminal record in France.
The German Minister of the Interior, Manfred Kanther, told the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper that Italy was disregarding the "spirit of Schengen" by letting in hundreds of illegal immigrants into the EU daily from the former Yugoslavia, Albania and Turkey. Mr Kanther said: "A week later we meet these people again in France or southern Germany. It is not right that on one side Schengen is made to function with great amounts of effort and money and one the<