Schengen/Dublin: opening the door to the EU? Swiss citizens will be facing some important issues--the Schengen/Dublin agreement and so-called Partnership Law--when they step up to the ballot box on June 5 to cast their vote in the first national referendum of 2005.
| Auteur | Anderson, Robert |
| Fonction | Politics |
In an unprecedented show of solidarity in the run-up to the June 5 referendum, no fewer than four Federal Councillors, representing the nation's four dominant political parties, held a news conference touting the numerous advantages of saying yes to the Schengen/Dublin agreement. The Federal Council believes that joining the Schengen accord will enhance the country's security, while signing the Dublin pact should help case the growing asylum burden.
History of the Schengen Accord
In 1957, six European countries outside Switzerland founded the European Economic Community (EEC), thereby' creating a European domestic market in which persons, goods and services, and capital could move freely. In order for people and goods to really move unimpeded, the member states decided to mutually abolish any border controls of persons at the internal frontiers, thus permitting the tree movement of persons between EU member states.
In addition, the 1990 Schengen agreement introduced several assists:
* extensive measures to enhance security', beefing up controls at EU external borders:
* a common policy regarding short-term visas and pan-European coordination of asylum proceedings;
* improved cross-border police cooperation, particularly via the exchange of information on wanted or undesirable persons;
* and improved cooperation in the area of criminal justice.
With the introduction of a common currency (euro) in 2002, the goal of a unified economic community was essentially realised. This process proceeded slowly at first, with Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and France signing an agreement in the wine-growing village of Schengen in Luxembourg Hence, the Schengen Accord was born.
Welcome to the SIS
One of the burning issues on the minds of Swiss citizens is security--especially if border controls should be eased at some point. From Switzerland's perspective, pan-European cooperation in investigations--based on the state-of-the-art computer network system SIS (or Schengen Information System)--is particularly lacking at present.
Schengen and the SIS are important tools in combating cross-border crime such as smuggling or trafficking of people, drugs and weapons--and that view is shared by the associations of Swiss police officers and Swiss chief criminal police officers, as well as the border guard corps and directors of the cantonal police and justice departments.
SIS is a common database that uses a computerised system to post alerts regarding...
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