The French attitude towards EU cooperation on immigration and asylum matters has always been characterized by suspicion. Since the implementation of Schengen in 1995 the national authorities, which reluctantly accepted the free movement of persons between EU member-states territories, expressed apprehension and skepticism against such an area without internal borders. Besides, controls over the national borders were firstly maintained by the French government, supposedly to contain the side-effects of the Netherlands liberal drugs policy and the trafficking and smuggling offences registered at the Belgian border. During the Nicolas Sarkozy Presidency (2007-2012), as the economic crisis intensified, such a French distrust for the immigration and asylum EU cooperation strengthened.
Schengen agreements under pressure in France
This evolution can be explained by the focus of the French conservative government on the struggle against illegal immigration. The fear of immigration flows into France in the aftermath of the Arab Spring stressed the national hostility against the Schengen regime. After Rome chose to grant temporary visas (for humanitarian reasons) to thousands of North African migrants, Paris unilaterally decided on 7 April 2011 to restore controls on its border with Italy, in other to prevent the entry of hundreds of French-speaking Tunisian refugees joining France's 600,000-strong Tunisian community.
In so doing, the French authorities disregarded the Schengen agreement provisions, and thus underscored the extreme fragility of the EU cooperation on asylum and immigration matters. Moreover, the sharp diplomatic crisis between France and Italy ended with a deal between Claude Guéant (the then French Interior Minister) and Roberto Maroni (his Italian counterpart) pushing for a review of the Schengen regime. Indeed, the idea was exposed and defended to let the EU member states unilaterally reintroduce border checks not only when national security or public order is at stake, but also when large-scale illegal immigration flows occur. Cecilia Malmström, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, then proposed that EU member states may re-instate border controls as far as the Schengen border code is amended in order to give the Commission the power to approve (or not) incidences lasting longer than five days.
Backed up by some member states (especially Germany and Austria), France made clear that the Commission proposal was unacceptable to the national governments, eagerly attached to their own sovereignty on such a sensitive subject. And the particular context France registered during the 2012 presidential election campaign has comforted the national authorities' hostility against the Schengen area exigencies. Actually, under the influence of the right-wing political party, President Nicolas Sarkozy, then candidate for a second mandate, threatened France will suspend its participation to the European open border zone, unless the Schengen area common border was secured by the end of the year. Even though this ultimatum lost a large part of its impact with the final victory of the socialist François Hollande for the Presidency, the French suspicion against the European cooperation on immigration and asylum matters has not disappeared, whatever the socialist candidate made as promises during the presidential election campaign.
A redefinition of the French position?
The continuity in the French position was demonstrated during the Justice and Home Affairs summit last June. The new French Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, endorsed the deal the former presidential and legislative majority via Claude Guéant had negotiated with the Interior Ministers of the other Schengen area member states, which allows for a unilateral reintroduction of border controls in case of large scale immigration flows. Notwithstanding, the impression of continuity declined after a meeting between Manuel Valls and Cecilia Malmström on 10 July 2012: the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that the French position seemed to have changed with the new President and the new government. Indeed, Manuel Valls promised that he will firmly preserve the Schengen acquis. Nevertheless, it would be inaccurate to conclude that the French authorities' position on EU immigration and asylum matters has been totally redefined.
Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche works as a researcher for Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3.