{"id":12472,"date":"2022-01-18T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/paratiriseis-rsa-schengen\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T12:37:32","slug":"schengen-reform-rsa-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/schengen-reform-rsa-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Schengen reform: The European Commission dismantles even basic safeguards of the Common European Asylum System through unacceptable rule of law deviations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"12472\" class=\"elementor elementor-12472 elementor-12461\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a357160 elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a357160\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-59360eb\" data-id=\"59360eb\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6891d32 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6891d32\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Schengen reform: The European Commission dismantles even basic safeguards of the Common European Asylum System through unacceptable rule of law deviations<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5c40956 elementor-hidden-desktop elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5c40956\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-f2ad455\" data-id=\"f2ad455\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-89c64e4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"89c64e4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-large\">Schengen reform: The European Commission dismantles even basic safeguards of the Common European Asylum System through unacceptable rule of law deviations<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-dace994 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"dace994\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1cfca49\" data-id=\"1cfca49\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4a504f1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4a504f1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p1\">The European Commission tabled legislative proposals to amend the Schengen Borders Code and to address so-called \u201cinstrumentalisation\u201d in migration and asylum, two months after 12 Member States, including Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/321IUvJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s1\">requested<\/span><\/a> the \u201cadaptation of EU law to new realities\u201d and after the European Council called on the Commission to take legislative measures.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">This week, Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) published its detailed comments on the above legislative proposals:<\/p><ul class=\"ul1\"><li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/RSA_Comments_SBC.pdf\"><span class=\"s3\">Comments on the proposal amending the Schengen Borders Code<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/RSA_Comments_Instrumentalisation.pdf\"><span class=\"s3\">Comments on the proposal for a Regulation on instrumentalisation in the area of asylum and migration<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"p1\">The European Commission proposals attempt an unacceptable dismantling of an already problematic Common European Asylum System by legislating unjustified and unlawful rules to essentially allow Member States to derogate from their international obligations. Specifically:<\/p><ol class=\"ol1\"><li class=\"li1\">The proposals in fact incorporate the serious, systematic and thoroughly documented violations of EU law by certain Member States, which the Commission refuses to denounce through infringement proceedings. However, its tactic of entrenching \u201cpresent illegality\u201d as \u201cfuture law\u201d is extremely dangerous and wholly incompatible with the rule of law and international obligations on refugee protection. Member States which systematically infringe EU law not only benefit from the lack of sanctions and consequences from EU institutions, but openly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.protothema.gr\/politics\/article\/1169201\/mitarakis-tha-prepei-na-perimenoume-apo-tin-ee-na-kanei-polu-perissotera-gia-tin-prostasia-ton-europaikon-sunoron\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s1\">declare<\/span><\/a> practices and initiatives to deter refugee arrivals which contravene the principle of <i>non-refoulement <\/i>principle and put lives at risk. Moreover, the Commission\u2019s view that governments violating basic legal standards would be obligated to comply with their duties following changes to the legal framework is dispelled to this day.<br \/><br \/>Greece continues to hold a central \u201claw-breaker\u201d position. The legislative proposals draw inspiration from the most problematic aspect of our national asylum practice. The provisions on the use of the border procedure to all asylum caseloads and the generalised derogation from Return Directive procedures attempt to replicate <span class=\"s1\">the <a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/el\/symfonia-ee-tourkias-5-chronia-ntropis\/\">legacy of five years of implementation of the EU-Turkey deal<\/a><\/span>. For its part, the <a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/the-right-to-asylum-in-the-context-of-instrumentalisation-lessons-from-greece\/\"><span class=\"s1\">unlawful precedent<\/span><\/a> of suspension of the asylum procedure by way of emergency decree in March 2020 and similar unlawful practices recently followed by Poland and other countries are indirectly introduced as \u201curgent measures\u201d through provisions delaying registration of asylum claims for up to four weeks.<br \/><br \/><\/li><li class=\"li1\">The European Commission continues its poor law-making trend, insists on not complying with its obligations under the existing <i>acquis <\/i>and subscribes to a dangerous rhetoric of exclusion from protection and of militarisation of asylum. The Commission also contradicts the very positions it put forward in the recent case <a href=\"https:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/juris\/document\/document.jsf?text=&amp;docid=235703&amp;pageIndex=0&amp;doclang=EL&amp;mode=lst&amp;dir=&amp;occ=first&amp;part=1&amp;cid=1352678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s1\">C-808\/18 <i>Commission v Hungary<\/i><\/span><\/a><i> <\/i>regarding the adequacy of the Asylum Directives in force to respond to potential pressure faced by Member States.<br \/><br \/><\/li><li class=\"li1\">Further to the package of legislative proposals of the <a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/new-pact-on-migration-and-asylum-old-recipes-with-dangerous-ingredient\/\"><span class=\"s1\">New Pact on Migration and Asylum<\/span><\/a>, the new proposed measures mark yet again a retreat of EU law in favour of national discretion and initiative, and an entirely wrong use of directly applicable Regulations. The proposals undermine the objective of a common policy respecting the 1951 Refugee Convention and core international law on human rights, as well as the aim of harmonisation of EU asylum systems. They also contribute to further lack of legal certainty for both refugees and administrative authorities.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-369b5da elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"369b5da\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-041c5c0\" data-id=\"041c5c0\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5e433ac elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5e433ac\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p1\"><strong>For these reasons, RSA urges for:<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-74e00ed elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"74e00ed\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1ce8a4a\" data-id=\"1ce8a4a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-874027d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"874027d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"ul1\"><li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s2\">Immediate rejection of the legislative proposals in their entirety by EU co-legislators and their withdrawal by the European Commission.<\/span><\/li><li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s2\">Evaluation of the functioning of the current EU asylum <i>acquis<\/i>, in line with the Commission\u2019s obligations under the relevant instruments.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li><li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s2\">Launch of infringement proceedings by the Commission against Greece and other Member States violating EU asylum law.<\/span><\/li><li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s2\">Support to asylum systems under pressure through tangible and effective measures such as relocation of asylum seekers and refugees, based on responsibility-sharing between Member States.<\/span><\/li><li class=\"li1\">\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission tabled legislative proposals to amend the Schengen Borders Code and to address so-called \u201cinstrumentalisation\u201d in migration and asylum, two months after 12 Member States, including Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, requested the \u201cadaptation of EU law to new realities\u201d and after the European Council called on the Commission to take legislative measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,318,10,207,343,137],"tags":[284,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-12472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-publications","8":"category-common-european-asylum-system","9":"category-legal-and-case-analysis","10":"category-other-topics","11":"category-rule-of-law-in-greece","12":"category-topics","13":"tag-284","14":"tag-featured"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12472"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12485,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12472\/revisions\/12485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}