Translation of "frontière de l'espace schengen " (French → English) :

(22) To safeguard the application of the Schengen acquis throughout the Schengen area, the implementation of the Regulation on the establishment of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis should also be supported under this Regulation, as an essential tool to facilitate the implementation of Union policies in the area of Freedom, Justice and Security by ensuring a high level of external border protection and the absence of border controls within the Schengen area.

This regulation applies to any person crossing the external borders of all EU countries, except those of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the internal borders of the Schengen area (a border-free area comprising 22 EU countries, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).

They state that this amendment to the Schengen Borders Code will reinforce the coordination and cooperation at the level of the Union by providing on the one hand for criteria for any reintroduction of border controls by Member States and on the other hand for an EU-based mechanism to respond to truly critical situations where the overall functioning of the area without internal border controls is put at risk.

23. Underlines the importance of developing integrated border management which should ensure uniform, secure and high-quality external border control while facilitating legitimate travel across external borders and promoting mobility within the Schengen area; welcomes the recent entry into operation of the Schengen Information System II and calls on eu-LISA to ensure high-quality operational management of the new system; expects the new European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) to be fully functional by the end of 2014 and believes it will be an efficient instrument which will contribute to the detection and prevention of, and the ...[+++]fight against, cross-border crime and irregular immigration, as well as to protecting migrants and saving their lives; stresses that the possible development of new IT systems in the area of migration and border management, such as the Smart Borders initiatives, should be carefully analysed, especially in the light of the principles of necessity and proportionality, and should eventually be developed only once the relevant legal instruments have been adopted; particularly welcomes the recent agreement reached on the Schengen Evaluation Mechanism and calls on the Commission to fulfil its new responsibilities in order to ensure a high level of compliance with the Schengen acquis throughout the Schengen area; stresses that the reintroduction of controls at internal borders should be an exceptional measure that may be used only as a last resort, taking into consideration not only the security aspects but also the impact on mobility and freedom of movement; highlights the fact that the migration of, and crossing of external borders by, a large number of third-country nationals should not, per se, be considered to be a threat to public policy or to internal security; reiterates its strong support for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area and calls on the Council also to agree to their accession, as this will boost ...

The Schengen Information System (SIS) grew out of Member States’ desire to create an area without internal border controls while facilitating the movement of persons across their external frontiers.[9] Operational since 1995, it seeks to maintain public security, including national security, within the Schengen area and facilitate the movement of persons using information communicated via this system.

The Schengen Convention entails a number of obligations for Member States [12] regarding police co-operation at their common internal borders, at the external borders of the Schengen territory (land, international airports, sea) and within the Schengen area in general to counteract any security deficit caused by the abolition of the checks at the internal borders.