Internal Border Control in the Schengen Area and Health Threats: Any Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-430
Author(s):  
Stefano Montaldo
Keyword(s):  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Member States ◽  
Internal Dimension ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Health Threats ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
Current Governance

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the Member States’ overreliance on the rules of the Schengen Borders Code allowing for temporary reintroduction of border control and has questioned the institutional narrative of an EU-wide borderless area as a key achievement of the integration process. This article focuses on the legal implications of the border measures enacted by the Member States following the COVID-19 outbreak and discusses their compatibility with relevant EU law, also in the light of available epidemiological studies on the link between border controls and spread of the virus. The analysis contends that the pandemic has offered an unprecedented opportunity to pave the way to shared solutions to the enduring crisis of the internal dimension of the Schengen area, such as a detailed reform of the Schengen Borders Code and a reconsideration of the current governance of the Schengen area itself.

scholarly journals THE SCHENGEN AREA - THE CHALLENGES OF ITS EXISTENCE AND THE NEED FOR REFORM

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 113-123
Author(s):  
Līga Budeviča ◽  
Aija Čerpinska ◽  
Daina Znotiņa
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Member States ◽  
Unique Structure ◽  
Proper Functioning ◽  
Border Controls

The Schengen area is a unique structure and one of the European Union's greatest achievements allowing people to move freely within its borders. However, the factors such as the refugee crisis and the influx of asylum seekers into Europe have led several Member States to reintroduce border controls at their internal borders. The aim of the research is to explore the Schengen area, the challenges of its existence and the need for reform. In order to implement the aim of the research, the authors have determined the following tasks of the research: 1) to explore and analyse the Schengen area and the reforms taking place in it; 2) to explore the challenges of the existence of the Schengen area; 3) based on the results obtained in the research, to draw conclusions and develop proposals. The study summarizes the reforms implemented and planned in the Schengen area, evaluates the existing challenges and relevance of the reforms to overcome them. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that it is necessary to ensure the Member States adopt measures to restore the proper functioning of the Schengen area and do not request extension of the reintroduction of the border control at the internal borders.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta Moreno-Lax
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Final Assessment ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
The Eu

This chapter summarizes the overall conclusions to which the findings arrived at in previous chapters lead. The research points to a persistent disregard of the particular position of exiles in relation to pre-border controls. It emphasizes how the general references to human rights and refugee law introduced in each of the instruments analyzed in Part I are insufficient to guarantee the rights identified in Part II. While ‘integrated border management’ (IBM) measures include some recognition of their potential impact on access to asylum in the Member States, no provision is made for adequate procedures and remedies through which compliance with the protection obligations imposed by EU law would be ensured in practice. On this basis, the chapter closes with a final assessment of IBM tools as currently operationalised, suggesting that either these be adapted to the fundamental rights acquis or abandoned as incompatible with the founding values of the EU.

“Europe Without Borders” and the Future of European Integration

2020 ◽  
pp. 455-474
Author(s):  
Sevgi Çilingir
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Time Limits ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Border Controls

The Schengen Area is one of the most remarkable developments of EU integration, signifying supranationalization in a field where national sovereignty is rigorously protected. However, following the migration crisis and the escalation of terrorist attacks in 2015, some member states reintroduced border controls within the area. By 2018, they have exceeded the time limits set by EU law. The Commission called for amendment instead of compliance from member states. This chapter demonstrates recent developments in the field of internal border controls in the Schengen Area with respect to European integration and its future. By inquiring member states' actions and EU institutions' reactions in the context of EU law, it sheds light on whether “Europe without borders” has become an accomplishment of the past. Evaluated in relation to integration models in EU literature and future scenarios for the EU presented by the Commission in 2017, the findings suggest that internal border controls will continue in the course of deepening, despite their contradictory effect.

Bariery w przepływie pracowników na rynku wewnętrznym – stary problem w nowych odsłonach

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4 (1)) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Robert Grzeszczak
Keyword(s):  
Equal Treatment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Political Criticism ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
The Will ◽  
Free Movement Of Persons ◽  
The Eu

The issue of re-nationalization (disintegration and fragmentation) of integration process is manifested by the will of some of the Member States to verify their relations with the European Union. In the age of an economic crisis of the EU and in relation to the large migration of the population, there has emerged strong social and political criticism, on the European level, of the integration process, with some Member States even consideringtheir withdrawal from the EU. In those States, demands forextending the Member States’ competences in the field of some EU policies are becoming more and more popular. The legal effects of the above-mentioned processes are visible in the free movements of the internal market, mainly within the free movement of persons. Therefore, there are problems, such as increased social dumping process, the need to retain the output of the European labour law, the issue of the so-called social tourism, erosion of the meaning of the EU citizenship and the principle of equal treatment.

EU Non-Refoulement: (The Irrelevance of) Territoriality and Pre-Border Controls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta Moreno-Lax
Keyword(s):  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Functional Understanding ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
The Eu

This chapter identifies the content and scope of application of the EU prohibition of refoulement. Following the ‘cumulative standards’ approach, the analysis incorporates developments in international human rights law (IHRL) and international refugee law (IRL). Taking account of the prominent role of the ECHR and the Refugee Convention (CSR51) as sources of Article 19 CFR, these are the two main instruments taken in consideration. The scope of application of Articles 33 CSR51 and 3 ECHR will be identified in turns. Autonomous requirements of EU law will be determined by reference to the asylum acquis as interpreted by the CJEU. The main focus will be on the establishment of the territorial reach of EU non-refoulement. The idea that it may be territorially confined will be rejected. Drawing on the ‘Fransson paradigm’, a ‘functional’ understanding of the ‘implementation of EU law’ standard under Article 51 CFR will be put forward, as the decisive factor to determine applicability of Charter provisions. The implications of non-refoulement for the different measures of extraterritorial control considered in Part I will be delineated at the end.

Review by Constitutional Courts of the Obligation of National Courts of Last Instance to Refer a Preliminary Question to the Court of Justice of the EU

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1663-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clelia Lacchi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Member States ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Judicial Remedy ◽  
The Eu

The Constitutional Courts of a number of Member States exert a constitutional review on the obligation of national courts of last instance to make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).Pursuant to Article 267(3) TFEU, national courts of last instance, namely courts or tribunals against whose decisions there is no judicial remedy under national law, are required to refer to the CJEU for a preliminary question related to the interpretation of the Treaties or the validity and interpretation of acts of European Union (EU) institutions. The CJEU specified the exceptions to this obligation inCILFIT. Indeed, national courts of last instance have a crucial role according to the devolution to national judges of the task of ensuring, in collaboration with the CJEU, the full application of EU law in all Member States and the judicial protection of individuals’ rights under EU law. With preliminary references as the keystone of the EU judicial system, the cooperation of national judges with the CJEU forms part of the EU constitutional structure in accordance with Article 19(1) TEU.

scholarly journals Extraterritorial Bulk Surveillance after the German BND Act Judgment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Marcin Rojszczak
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Electronic Surveillance ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Limited Usefulness

Foreign surveillance as a means of circumventing existing legal safeguards – Different perspectives on the problem of the extraterritorial application of fundamental rights in US and EU legal models – The limited usefulness of effective control tests for establishing the responsibility of states for action taken in cyberspace – Judgment of Bundesverfassungsgericht in the BND Act case as an interpretative guideline for the regulation of foreign surveillance in EU member states – Electronic surveillance as a threat to European integration process.

scholarly journals The notion of ‘employer’: Towards a uniform European concept?

2021 ◽  
pp. 203195252199115
Author(s):  
Matthijs van Schadewijk
Keyword(s):  
Functional Approach ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Corporate Groups ◽  
European Legislation ◽  
Contractual Approach ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Eu ◽  
The Way

The growth in multilateral working relationships (e.g. agency work, chains of sub-contracting and corporate groups) is causing Member States to increasingly scrutinise their traditional, contractual approach to the notion of ‘employer’. So far, little attention has been paid to the boundaries and limits that EU law sets when defining the employer. The lack of attention may have come to an end with the recent AFMB judgment, in which the Court ruled, for the first time, that the concept of employer in a provision of EU law had to be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the EU. Starting from the AFMB judgment, the author analyses the concept of employer in EU law. The author finds that the concept of employer in EU law can be described as ‘uniform in its functionality’: in EU law, the national concept of the employer is never absolute, but the circumstances and the way in which the national concept must be set aside depend on the context and the objective of the European legislation in question. Through this functional approach, EU law partly harmonises the various national approaches to the concept of the employer. Nevertheless, a lack of specific reasoning on the part of the Court may grant the Member States considerable leeway to uphold their own views on the concept.

scholarly journals Comparative Law and EU Legal Language: Towards a European Restatement?

Global Jurist ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Ioriatti
Keyword(s):  
Legal Education ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Legal Process ◽  
Member States

Abstract Despite the ongoing developments in comparative law studies, European legal language is still in want of responses with regard to its own characteristics and impact in the Member States. This article suggests an interdisciplinarity perspective, that of comparative law and semiotics, as well as the observation of the normative forces grounding the practices of EU law in the Member States As a dialogical conclusion, a Restatement, will be suggested, where EU concepts could be channelled. This intellectual tool could be relevant in legal education too and favour the institutional dialogue among national and European actors of the multilingual legal process.

Enhanced Cooperation and European Tax Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Heber
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Entire Group ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Member States ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Cooperation Mechanism ◽  
The Law

The enhanced cooperation mechanism allows at least nine Member States to introduce secondary EU law which is only binding among these Member States. From an internal market perspective, enhanced cooperation laws are unique as they lie somewhere between unilateral Member State laws and uniform EU law. The law creates harmonisation and coordination between the participating Member States, but it may introduce trade obstacles in relation to non-participating Member States. This book reveals that the enhanced cooperation mechanism allows Member States to protect their harmonised values and coordination endeavours against market efficiency. Values which may not be able to justify single Member State’s trade obstacles may outweigh pure internal market needs if an entire group of Member States finds these value worthy of protection. However, protection of the harmonised values can never go as far as shielding participating Member States from the negative effects of enhanced cooperation laws. The hybrid nature of enhanced cooperation laws—their nexus between the law of a single Member State and secondary EU law—also demands that these laws comply with state aid law. This book shows how the European state aid law provisions should be applied to enhanced cooperation laws. Furthermore, the book also develops a sophisticated approach to the limits non-participating Member States face in ensuring that their actions do not impede the implementation of enhanced cooperation between the participating Member States.

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