The fight against terrorism – a genuine calling for Emmanuel Macron… For a mini European summit in video conference – held on Tuesday November 10 – the French President returned on the European coalition on the matter and explained his vision of the reformation of the Schengen area he wants to offer to the European Union state members this Tuesday.
“We must reform Schengen” the French President started. He continued: “The free-movement area Schengen is is one of the main benefits of the European construction, but it relied – in return of the free inner-borderless movement – on a promise of protection and securing of our external borders. This second promise has not been held enough”.
Emmanuel Macron made the most of this opportunity to reject the old far-right tunes as for the bond between immigration and terrorism without even minimizing the likely interactions between both: “We shall not mistake the fight against clandestine immigration and terrorism, but we shall clearly look at the bonds that are between the two phenomena” he said. Extremes that specifically play on that very topic to win voices within populations and a general will to block these ideas by backing off: “Public opinion in states confronted with a terrorist threat will not be able to accept keeping our borders open for long if we do not deeply reform the Schengen area” he says.
What is the reformation of the Schengen area is about? It can be summed up in three actions to lead on the European level: “We shall overhaul the Schengen area to make it a secure area, implying then to beef up the security of the external borders of the European Union, to clearly improve the process to assess the working of Schengen, including sanctioning those who do not respect their obligations, to renew the governance of this area that is no subject to a political and regular oversight including all the policies involved, whether it is about the borders, asylum/migration, internal security.”
“I am therefore for implementing a genuine internal security council” the French President concluded. A reformation Emmanuel Macron will now have to defend to his European peers.
