Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2011)461 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006 as regards the inclusion of the Kaliningrad area and certain Polish administrative districts in the eligible border area - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2011)461 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006 as regards the inclusion of the Kaliningrad area and certain Polish administrative ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2011)461  |
| date | 27-07-2011 |
It is in the interest of the enlarged European Union to ensure that the borders with its neighbours are no barriers to trade, social and cultural interchange or regional cooperation with neighbouring countries. Therefore, the Council and the European Parliament adopted in 2006 a Regulation laying down rules on local border traffic at the external land borders of the Member States[1] ("Local Border Traffic Regulation") which allows derogating, for persons living in a border area, from the general rules on border checks set out in the Schengen Borders Code. The Regulation authorises Member States to conclude bilateral agreements with neighbouring non-EU countries, provided these agreements fully comply with the parameters set by the Regulation.
In February 2011, the Commission concluded in its second report[2] that the local border traffic regime makes life significantly easier for people living near the external land borders, while at the same time there is little evidence that the regime is being abused.
The Commission also stated that given the specific position of Kaliningrad -the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation with a population of almost one million inhabitants became the only enclave within the EU as a consequence of the 2004 EU enlargement- an amendment of the Local Border Traffic Regulation may be justified.
Indeed, the Kaliningrad enclave has an exceptional geographic position as a relatively small area which is completely surrounded by two EU Member States; the oblast in its entirety has the character of a border area. There are no other areas within Europe with a similar geographic situation constituting an enclave.
In order to avoid Kaliningrad's isolation from its immediate neighbours, there is a need to facilitate travel for its inhabitants.
Even though the EU-Russian Federation agreement on visa facilitation in force since 2007 already is a significant step forward to enhance opportunities for mobility, the local border traffic regime offers additional facilitations specifically for regular, even daily, needs for travel within the local area. For examples, applicants will not have to prove sufficient means of subsistence, the permit may be issued free of charge, or separate lanes and/or specific border crossing points could be reserved or set up for local border traffic. Also, all residents of the Kaliningrad area would enjoy these facilitations, whereas some of the facilitations in the EU-Russian Federation visa facilitation agreement apply to certain categories of persons only.
In order also to prevent an artificial division of the Kaliningrad oblast, whereby some inhabitants would enjoy facilitations for local border traffic while the majority (including the inhabitants of the city of Kaliningrad) would not, the entire Kaliningrad area should be eligible as a border area in a bilateral agreement between a Member State and the Russian Federation. It should be noted that this eligible border area could not be extended any further.
In this context, and for the Regulation to have real effect in that region, a specific border area on the Polish side should be included in the eligible border area as well, in order to facilitate and enhance economic and cultural interchange between the Kaliningrad oblast on the one hand and major centres in the North of Poland on the other.
It is underlined that this exceptional extension of the border zone in the Kaliningrad area does not affect the general definition of the eligible border area (the 30/50 km zone). Also, all rules and conditions in the Local Border Traffic Regulation that guarantee the security of the entire Schengen area continue to apply. In particular, the local border traffic permits will continue to have the security features as set out in the Regulation, and local border traffic permits may only be issued to applicants who fulfil all conditions set out in the Regulation. Also, Poland is obliged to ensure that any abuse of the local border traffic regime is subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, which shall include the possibility of cancelling and revoking local border traffic permits. In this context, the Polish authorities have already committed themselves to launch targeted information campaigns and to mark clearly the local border traffic area.
This proposal will contribute to further promoting the strategic partnership between the EU and the Russian Federation, in line with the priorities set out in the Roadmap of the Common Space on Freedom, Security and Justice regarding cross-border cooperation and shall be considered in the context of the overall EU - Russian Federation relationship.
Contents
On the basis of the second Commission report on the functioning of the Local Border Traffic regime, Member States discussed the opportunity of addressing the specific solution of the Kaliningrad enclave in the relevant fora.
A majority of Member States is in favour of such a solution, on condition that no new discussion would take place on the general definition of the border zone, and that this exception would constitute a specific and unique solution for the sole case of the Kaliningrad enclave.
The proposal is based on Article 77 (2) (b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The proposal amends the Local Border Traffic Regulation, which was based on the equivalent provision of the Treaty establishing the European Community, i.e. Article 62 (2) (a) (external borders).
The proposed amendment has no implications for the EU budget.