Minister: Schengen Entry Feasible in 2007 Pending Council Decision

Brdo pri Kranju, 26 October

Slovenian Interior Minister Dragutin Mate is confident that Slovenia could join the Schengen passport-free zone by the end of 2007 if the EU Council endorses in December the proposal that the Portuguese Schengen Information System (SIS) be implemented in the EU newcomers.

Pending a positive decision by the Council, Slovenia could enter the the Schengen database in October 2007 and the Schengen area without internal land and sea borders by the end of the year, Mate said, indicating that full Schengen entry would not be possible in October 2007 as initially planned.
Mate was speaking to the press on Thursday after the interior ministers of the Salzburg Forum (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia) discussed the delays in the expansion of the Schengen zone and the Portuguese proposal to avert them.
Portugal made the proposal that its Schengen Information System (SIS plus) be cloned to the Central and Eastern European newcomers after it became clear that the newcomers would not be able to enter the zone in 2007 as planned due to delays in the implementation of the next-generation system, the SIS II.
According to Mate, the Portuguese experts have laid out a time plan for the implementation of the SIS plus. If the Council endorses the proposal, testing could start in February 2007 at the central computer system and in May or June in those new member states which are ready to join the Schengen zone.
Yet while Mate was optimistic, Austrian Interior Minister Liese Prokop was more reserved. The implementation of the Portuguese proposal is possible in theory, she said, but this is a very complex technical and political issue that the Council will have to endorse unanimously.
According to the Prokop, "SIS light" is not possible. All Schengen standards must be fully implemented, she stressed. Mate shared her view, saying that there can be no concessions in border security.
The matter was also discussed at Brdo pri Kranju by the interior ministers of the eight Central and Eastern European newcomers. Mate said today that the newcomers were united in their support for the Portuguese solution, but he refused to comment on the statement of European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini that only Slovenia was actually ready.
According to Mate, the Schengen candidates are all in favour of the Portuguese proposal, but whereas the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) are in favour of a package solution, Slovenia believes security cannot be subject to collective entry.
"We cannot talk about group treatment. Every country must meet its criteria and take responsibility," Mate said. He noted that the evaluation of readiness to join the Schengen zone had also been carried out for each country separately.

Minister: Schengen Entry Feasible in 2007 Pending Council Decision

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