French ex-president Sarkozy wants to scrap EU border-free agreement
Former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy in an op-ed published in Le Point and Die Welt on Thursday (22 May) recommends putting an end to the border free Schengen agreement. The conservative politician says a 'Schengen II' should replace the EU's internal open-border system. The new version would be reserved exclusively for member states with like-minded policies on immigration. Sarkozy's version of the Schengen, he says, would prevent people from moving to other member states with the sole intention of living off welfare.
France, along with Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, were the first to begin the process of removing internal borders in 1985. The pact has since expanded to almost every EU member state and allows people to circulate freely inside the EU without being subject to border check controls.
An advocate general at the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice on Wednesday in an opinion also noted countries are entitled to reject unfounded benefit claims. The advocate general said a member state can reject "social security benefits for jobseekers who are in need of assistance" if the person had gone to the country solely to claim benefits.
But existing EU laws also entitle member states to expel any EU national who becomes an "unreasonable financial burden". Earlier this year, Euronews reported Belgian authorities had sent expulsion letters to 2,712 EU citizens for being an unreasonable burden on its welfare system.
http://euobserver.com/justice/124222
Like any conservative politician, Sarkozy is playing the 'welfare moochers' card. Europe's open borders have to be closed to prevent welfare mooching. Again like any conservative politician his claim is based on emotion not fact, since European countries already have the ability to deny welfare benefits to immigrants who have "gone to the country solely to claim benefits".
"Us" vs. "Them" and "Emotion" vs. Facts" conservative politics never seems to change no matter what country you are in.