Sunday, August 27th., 2017 'Schengen is not working' says Macron, goes against key EU principle

Sunday, August 27th., 2017

'Schengen is not working' says Macron, goes against key EU principle

Laura Mowat
Express
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 09:22 UTC

© Getty
Macron has claimed the Schengen Zone is not working well

Emmanuel Macron hit out at the European principle of free movement in a scathing speech in which he said Schengen is "not working well".

On a visit to Bucharest, Emmanuel Macron urged Romania to take part in discussions about reforming the controversial passport-free movement across most of the bloc.

The Schengen zone, which is an area of free movement between country borders, has been blamed for migrant chaos in Europe and a heightened terrorist threat.

The French president said: "You've been having the right to request entry into the Schengen area for years now, and you have recalled this, and I know how important this is for you.

"I have no ideology in this respect, I am totally open to this subject.

"But I have to be honest, the Europe of the Schengen area is not working well and, of course, we can't be happy about it."

The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that Romania was "already acting de facto as a responsible state of the Schengen area, taking part in the joint efforts to strengthen the Union's external borders".

He added: "Romania's accession will strengthen the security of the Schengen area and will send a strong signal in support of the European construction.

"Romania is today, 10 years after becoming a member, a mature member state with a very powerful pro-European profile, that wants to be a re-founding member of the European Union."

Mr Macron arrived in Bucharest on Thursday, August 24, for a one-day visit.

His controversial comments are the latest in the one-time EU golden boy's attacks on the bloc.

Comment: See: 'You won't rule Europe': Poland's Prime Minister blasts Macron over accusations of isolation, calls him arrogant

EU chief's applauded his election earlier this year but the French president has since urged for reforms of the union.

The Schengen agreement was signed into EU law in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam.

There are currently 26 countries in the Schengen area: 22 of these are EU members and four are non-EU member states - Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway.

The UK and the Republic of Ireland, however, have both opted out of the internal border policy.

Jean Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, has said the Schengen system is non-negotiable, irreversible, and the EU's greatest achievement. However, the former leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage said: "Schengen has now hit the buffers of the real world and is falling apart."

Comment: Macaroni has sure come out with guns blazing lately - but what is he hoping to accomplish? One thing's for sure, because he takes his orders from globalists of the worst kind, any new policies he's hoping to implement are bound to be harmful to all but the elite few...

Speaking of which, the goofy but dangerous golden boy is now talking about new "reform" he's working on in his visit to Romania (just replace the word 'reform' with austerity for what is probably a more accurate description).

Speaking yesterday, he said: "France is not a country that can be reformed. Many have tried, and failed, because the French hate reform.

"If they find a loophole that allows them to avoid implementing reforms, they will exploit it. The general population hates the idea of change."

He made the comments during a speech addressed to the French expatriate community in Bucharest, Romania.

The president added: "It is therefore the government's duty to explain reform, and to tell citizens why they are being implemented. People need reassurance, they need to know whether their country is going in the right direction."

The French, he added, have incredibly high aspirations and expectations, but are, as a nation, non-conformist.

Mr Macron said: "The French expect a profound transformation ... but France is a country that is only truly itself once it takes on challenges that are bigger than itself.

"The French are not interested in adopting reforms that will allow the country to meet fixed benchmarks... Our country isn't like that.

"Citizens need to know that the social and economic reforms being imposed on them will deeply transform France, that they will enable France to fulfill its destiny as a major European power and as a beacon of universalism. Because those are the things the French believe are worth fighting for."

He added: "France will be transformed. Because voters made the slightly mad choice to back a new political movement and elected a wildcard as president. France will, in the near future, become the voice of the free world."