Difficulties in the implementation of Schengen Agreement

It is generally believed that the Schengen Agreement is an important step on the road of EU integration, but the expanding scope of the Schengen Agreement also provides opportunities for illegal immigrants and transnational crimes. Extraordinary times have also brought difficulties to the implementation of the agreement.

The implementation of the Schengen Agreement was not smooth sailing. In case of emergency or special circumstances, the Member States have to temporarily implement the standstill agreement. For example, in 2003, when SARS ravaged Asia, the Italian government announced that it would suspend the implementation of the Schengen Agreement and decided to resume the border inspection of inbound passengers from Schengen Agreement member countries.

Two months before the opening of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, in order to ensure the success and safety of the Olympic Games, the Greek government made a decision to temporarily withdraw from the Schengen Agreement.

Britain and Ireland, as members of the European Union, have not yet joined the Schengen Agreement. In addition to the relatively conservative concept and tradition, the difficulty in implementing the Schengen Agreement is also the main reason why Britain and Ireland are hovering outside the agreement.

France wants to suspend the Schengen agreement. On April 22, 20 1 1, the French government announced that the European Schengen agreement needed to be "upgraded". The French government intends to suspend the implementation of this agreement to allow the free movement of people in the Schengen area and stop illegal immigrants from Libya and Tunisia.

France and Italy passed the buck to each other.

France took the lead in taking military action against Libya, but it shirked its responsibility with Italy, another EU country involved in military action against Libya, on the issue of resettling illegal immigrants.

A French presidential official said on the 22nd that the Schengen Agreement is flawed, and it is necessary to consider establishing a mechanism to allow the implementation of the agreement to be suspended when there is "systematic chaos" outside the EU border until the problem is solved.

According to the Schengen Agreement, holders of valid identity documents of any Schengen area country can move freely in all Schengen area countries without border inspection.

The unrest in the North African countries of Tunisia and Libya triggered a wave of refugees. According to the statistics of UNHCR, since February 20 1 1, more than 20,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in Lampedusa, the southernmost island of Italy, via the Mediterranean Sea.

Italian officials have repeatedly called on the EU to assume the responsibility of resettlement, but the EU refused. Italy later began to issue residence permits valid for six months to these illegal immigrants. According to the Schengen Agreement, the holder of this residence permit can freely enter and leave all Schengen countries.

As French is widely used in Tunisia, many illegal immigrants from Tunisia try to enter France after obtaining Italian residence permits. The French side expressed strong dissatisfaction with this practice of the Italian government.