Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Limits on the EU

It's not just nationalist politics and nationalist economics that are imposing limitations on the EU. International terrorism is also threatening the vision of an open, multi-national society.

EU needs stricter border checks to disrupt terrorists, say leaders

European Union leaders have called for stricter checks on travellers entering the passport-free Schengen area, in response to last month's Paris attacks…

Schengen area

EU travellers can often avoid extensive ID checks under the Schengen agreement.

The agreement abolished internal borders, enabling passport-free movement between 26 European countries. The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland are not involved.

Spain had suggested that the agreement might have to be amended to permit more border checks on people suspected of having terrorist links…

Countries would "proceed without delay to systematic and co-ordinated checks'' on anyone whose movements are flagged as suspicious by databases that use unspecified "common risk indicators", the statement said.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz endorsed tighter controls, but said there were red lines he and other lawmakers would refuse to cross.

He warned that rashly curtailing individual rights in the name of boosting public safety would play into the terrorists' hands by discrediting Western-style democracy…

The leaders also called for police and judicial authorities to step up information sharing to prevent arms trafficking and money laundering and to effectively freeze assets used for financing terrorism…