Seminar: Schengen in Disrepair? Challenges to the Schengen System and Potential Remedies & Future Reforms

Whilst the EU and the European integration process lie upon fundamental premises such as the single currency and the Schengen system, it is evident that these foundations are currently being contested and brought into question. Indeed, menacing the regime of free movement established by Schengen, a number of Member States, in an attempt to respond to the uncontrolled and mounting influx of immigrants, have already re-established their border controls and national border controls in spite of the fact that the Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006, as amended in 2013 (Articles 23 to 26), formally prohibits the use of this practice for immigration-related motives.

Against this backdrop, this seminar aims at providing, in the first place, an in-depth analysis of the main challenges the Schengen system faces today (management of refugee flows, control of external borders, fight against terrorism). Secondly, the conference will present and discuss the number of initiatives currently under consideration to improve the efficiency of the system. These measures range from the more perfected application of a series remedies already foreseen by Schengen (articles 19 to 29 of the Schengen Border Code, review of EU’s Visa Policy, etc.) to new measures and tools (the hotspot system, reform of FRONTEX, new antiterrorism initiatives, etc.).

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