Fortress Europe an stare
The Schengen accords which entered into force on 26 March 1995 are portrayed as a liberalisation of border crossings between the countries of the European Union. In reality they are a series of repressive police measures to increase control of 'aliens' and 'Europeans' alike
- at the external frontier and everywhere inside the bosses' Europe.
by Albert Rochal
"The initial object of Schengen, the free movement of persons across the space formed by the nine countries signature to the accord, has shifted to the other aspect - an air-tight [common] external frontier and stricter controls on immigration."|
Rather than a betrayal of an initial lofty goal, this 'shift' is the logical consequence of the agreements. From the very beginning Schengen has been about building a powerful European police force, and an electronic barrier around Western Europe. This, of course, is the reason it has taken so long to put the accords into operation.
Nothing was left unprepared when German, French, Belgian Dutch and Luxemburg representatives met in the Luxembourgeois town of Schengen on 14 June 1985, The accord they signed was the fruit of years of secret cooperation between police and "anti-terrorist" experts of the "Schengen Committee" and (since 1975) the TREVI group (Terrorism, Radicalism, Extremism, Violence International). Recognising that the development of the European Union required some opening of internal borders, they resolved to make sure that, unlike capital and goods, labour — you and Iwould not start freely circulating around the continent. Immigrants and asylum seekers in particular were defined as targets, reduced to delinquents and smugglers. "Terrorists" and "extremists" were also recognised as cause for common concern.
The concrete goals of the 1985 accords were
• Generalising the criteria for accepting and rejecting visa application, and fixing a common list of countries from which a visa will be required.
• Each state to refuse admission to any person considered "undesirable" by any other member state. In other words, someone who was once refused entry into Germany will not be allowed into France. If found in France, s/he must be deported from the Schengen space.
• A common computerised system to be set up to record the identity and other precise information about all persons subject to control and all "undesirables"
• Fining airlines and ferryboat operators if they carry a passenger without the necessary documents into the Schengen space. As a result, transport operators now carry out their own passport and visa checks outside the Schengen space, and refuse passage to anyone they suspect does not meet the entry criteria. 10 years of restrictions
Since 1985 the Schengen Committee pilot group has been working in three directions
• Enlarging the number of countries who's governments are signature to the accords, and ensuring that national parliaments then quickly approve these agreements.
• Standardising police legislation in each country. Each country which wants to join the Schengen space must demonstrate that it is capable of strict controls of identity, and that antiimmigration legislation is strong enough to join the club,
• Organising the Schengen Information System (SIS), an immense computerised surveillance system which already contains files on five million of us → mainly so called "undesirable aliens."
Italy adhered to the Schengen Convention in 1990, followed by Spain and Portugal (1991), and then Greece (1992). Meanwhile all the countries of the European Community (the Schengen countries plus Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark) standardised and tightened their visa requirements 2 This system is now being extended to the EU's new members, Austria, Sweden and Finland. 3 Welcome to fortress Europe
If you don't have one of the new European passports, entry into the Schengen area has just become even more difficult. If you are refused entry, residence or asylum in one of the member countries, you will be rejected
BRUXELLES STRASBOURG automatically by all the others. The land borders between the Czech Republic and Germany are more strictly controlled than before 26 March, while there are still considerable checks on internal European Union borders where one of the partners is still considered to be too lax - such as Italy. And foreigners of all kinds — including long-term residents in one of the Schengen countries, remain second class Europeans since, every time they cross an internal frontier. Even if there is no visible control point, they must seek out the local police and make a written Declaration of Entry on the Territory (DET) of each state they visit.
Each 'non-community' passport holder, each refugee is now an international suspect. The Schengen Information System (SIS) super-computer in Strasburg is capable of managing 10 million personal files. The police force of every member state, and the visa-issuing consular offices outside the Schengen space have a permanent link to this *electronic fence.' And of course, this super-national data-base is not subject to
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International Viewpoint #266 May1995
the data-protection legislation of any of the member states.
Schengen countries have standardised their non-resident (short-stay) visa regulations on the basis of the lowest common denominator. Citizens of 129 countries are part of the new common list.
The response to the Algerian crisis has been to follow the French example - delivering 90% less visas than before the current crisis, closing consulates in the country, and accepting only postal visa applications, on a form which only those with connections or money can get their hands on.
The 'struggle against illegal
LUXEMBAUR immi-gration' has justified the extension of police powers across the entire Schengen area. In France. spot checks may now be carried out within 20 Km. of a border
(any border, any coast, any airport). And because these are "border' controls, they are not subject to the restrictions on regular police searches.
The cops can stop anyone, anytime, without giving, or having, any particular reason.
Schengen also gives national police forces the right of persuit' into the territory of a neighbouring country. The
German police can chase you
PLANTL in Holland, and the French police can spy on you in
Belgium.
Racism and resistance
In Holland the Labour Party (PVDA)
successfully resisted legislation which would have transfered the right to define new regulations on immigrants and asylum-seekers away from national parliaments to new Schengen bodies.
Despite the opposition of the Communist
Party, the French Parliament ratified
Schengen in June 1991 - thanks to the votes of the Socialist Party Deputies.
In all the countries which have approved the accords, the results are clear— legislation on the rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers is more restrictive, or soon will be. The police are getting new powers. Foreigners have less and less protection in the judicial system. Our governments condemn racism, xenophobia and the extreme right on the
"moral" level, but their actions confirm the far-right thesis that foreigners are the problem.
In most countries, social democratic parties — mandated and elected by a left.
Europe anti-racist base, have consistently sought a compromise with the right, and have abandoned the cause of immigrants and asylum-seekers in the process. In France it was the Socialist Laurent Fabius who signed the Schengen Accords. Socialist Ministers of the Interior Tobback (Belgium) Marchand (France) and Martelli (Italy) all prepared and implemented anti-immigrant laws. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) argued for years inside the party before winning authorisation for their "rotten compromise" with the Christian Democratic Party (CDP/CDU) to restrict the right to asylum.
The common principle behind all this legislation is simple: Western Europe is menaced with the 'invasion' of wave upon wave of immigrants and refugees from the rest of the world, particularly from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. The West must defend itself by any means necessary against those who flee hunger, repression and war.
On the one hand undocumented immigrants form an under-paid and powerless section of the labour force, and on the other hand they can be held up as the cause of all our social problems. Far-right parties like the Flanders Bloc (Vlaams Blok) in Belgium are a motor of this strategy (the French National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen voted against ratification of the Schengen Accords, which they claim are too lax!). But Danish and French conservatives have not hesitated to use the same arguments in a watered-down form. In "a sick, cynical manoeuvre of a collapsing reactionary party" the ruling British Tories (Conservatives) are praying that their increased agitation against "illegal immigrants" and the "European" (ie. continental, untrustworthy, foreign) system - even Schengen — will help them regain their traditional supporters. 4 Emotion and Mobilisation
This wave of repressive measures has provoked a divergence of opinion among the working classes and society in general. Most regions of Europe suffer from mass unemployment, and for some time now Fighting Euroracism the traditional leadership of the labour movement in most countries has been helping to spread the poison of xenophobia. But at the same time, the antiracist movement has been growing since the mid 1980s. There have been many demonstrations against discriminatory legislation, and against specific attacks by the far right. Over 100,000 people demonstrated in Rome and Paris on 25 January 1995. Swedish Trade Unions called a one day strike against racism on 20 February, and on 21 March more than 100,000 people demonstrated in allEuropean demonstrations in Brussels and Amsterdam. This is the proof of another Europe, opposed to Schengen and ready to fight for the values of solidarity and for democratic rights.
New associations and networks have been created, to support asylum-seekers, for whom it is now almost impossible to exercise their right to find refuge, and to support refugees and immigrants against racist attacks from the far right or the authorities. Some French, Belgian, German and British organisations are willing to hide refugees rather than see them expelled. Nevertheless, the left has not been able to prevent the generalised tightening of reactionary legislation on foreigners and asylum-seekers. Western Europe is being transformed into a real fortress, with laws and regulations replacing the ditches and walls of the Middle Ages. *
Notes
1.Le Monde, 26 March 1995.
2. Dublin Convention, June 1990, Maastricht Treaty, February 1992.
3. Members of the EU since 1 January 1995.
4. Socialist Outlook, 8 April 1995 — re-translated from the French.
The European Anti-Racist Network is organising a range of activities in the run-up to the EU Intergovernmental Conference in 1996. Our aim is amendment of Article K of the Maastricht Treaty, which deals with asylum, supervision of the external frontier of the EU, immigration policy, prevention of narcotics smuggling, and police and customs cooperation. Contact usmk98 c/o MRAX, 37 rue de la Poste, B-1210 Brussels, Belgium The Network includes Anti-Racist Alliance (UK), National Union of Refugee Organisations (UK), Harmony (IRL), SOS Racism (P), SOS Racism (I), SOS Racisme (F), Nero e non solo (I), SOS Racism (E), MRAX (B). Ras Front (F), Action Courage (D), Schools without Racism (NL), Nederland Bekent Kleur(NL)
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