Athens’ Schengen bid to be rebuffed

Date: 22/04/1999

By Simon Coss

GREECE appears to have missed its last chance to become a full member of the Schengen zone before the free movement pact is absorbed into mainstream EU law.

Athens is apparently so far behind in its preparations to join the border-free area that its membership bid will not even be discussed at the last-ever meeting of Schengen ministers in Luxembourg next Wednesday (28 April).

" Greece is not even on the agenda for the moment," confirmed an official from Germany, which currently holds both EU and Schengen presidencies.

The nine EU member states which are full signatories to the free-movement deal - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain - all argue that Greece has not yet shown that it can protect its thousands of miles of island coastline against illegal immigration.

Once Athens is accepted into the zone, air and sea borders with other Schengen countries would be opened permanently, leaving the Greeks responsible for guarding external EU frontiers with former Yugoslavia and Turkey - both political powder kegs.

The 'core' members of Schengen want to be certain that Athens is up to this highly demanding task before they allow border checks with Greece to be lifted. At a meeting in Berlin last December, they told Greece to go away and improve security on its external frontiers. Athens says it has been working hard since then and Greek officials predict that their country will finally be accepted into the free-movement area before the new millennium. "We are very hopeful that this question will be resolved before the end of the year," said one.

The issue of Greece's acceptance into the Schengen fold is not, however, the only problem dogging the free-movement deal as governments prepare to move it into the EU treaties.

Less than ten days before the Amsterdam Treaty enters into force, governments are still not sure precisely how Schengen will be slotted into the main body of Union law. EU foreign ministers are supposed to resolve the problem at their meeting next Tuesday (27 April) but, as one official put it this week: "There is no solution in sight."