Danish minister to face MEPs’ anger over Schengen

Justice minister to explain in Strasbourg next week why member states cut MEPs out of Schengen decisions.

Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s justice minister, will face MEPs in Strasbourg next week to explain a decision by member states to exclude the European Parliament from decisions on the European Union’s Schengen area of borderless travel.

Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the group of Socialists and Democrats in Parliament, confirmed that Bødskov would attend the Parliament plenary, which begins on Monday (11 June).

A spokesperson for the Danish government said that the timing of the visit had not yet been finalised.

Joseph Daul, leader of the centre-right group of the European People’s Party, yesterday called on Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s centre-left prime minister, to attend the opening session of the plenary in Strasbourg to explain the decision.

Denmark is the current holder of the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers, and Bødskov chaired the meeting of EU home affairs ministers in Luxembourg yesterday at which the controversial decision on Schengen was taken.

The ministers had decided that the evaluation of member states’ compliance with Schengen rules was to remain under the control of national governments, rejecting a proposal by the European Commission for a Commission-led procedure and excluding the European Parliament from decision-making.

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