Sarkozy-Berlusconi: A border control farce (more about political theatre than serious policy reform)

[pampango]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/29/sarkozy-berlusconi-border-controls

The Sarkozy-Berlusconi summit was more about political theatre than serious policy reform. Both are fighting for their careers: Sarkozy faces what looks like an increasingly serious challenge from Marine Le Pen of the hard-right Front National; Berlusconi relies on the virulently anti-immigrant Lega Nord to stay in power. For them, the chief aim of the meeting was to shock and, in the process, steal the clothes of anti-Schengen politicians at home.

When Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi announced plans to weaken passport-free travel in Europe this week, many onlookers concluded that the EU's most tangible achievement, the Schengen zone, was going the way of the single currency.

This is unlikely. Like the euro, the Schengen area, where passport checks were abolished in 1995, and which created a freedom to travel not seen since before the first world war – depends on each country managing its own affairs well and behaving sensibly during testing times. That is where the analogy ends. Under Schengen, countries have been able to reintroduce border controls for up to a month in an emergency.

But those pronouncing on the strange death of liberal Europe should consider a few realities first. For starters, both leaders will have to jump through several hoops to get the rules changed. Only the European commission can propose them. Next, a majority of the other 23 Schengen members would have to agree to them. At least 11 are countries whose people regard the freedom to travel unhindered as the final laying to rest of a fascist or a communist past. Finally, the European parliament needs to approve. But MEPs spoke out against France's arbitrary deportations of Roma in 2010 and lamented Italy's morally bankrupt deal on immigration with Muammar Gaddafi.