Denmark: No real control of Schengen
01 January 1998
The Danish government endorsed the Schengen Convention in December 1996 and the parliament voted in favour of joining the convention in May 1997. The other Schengen members are currently ratifying the Danish participation. The right to vote in the Executive Committee will not be possible until all the other Schengen members have ratified Danish accession. This is expected to happen during 1998 or more likely 1999.
During the parliamentary debate in May 1997 the Red-Green Alliance party put forward an amendment to the law ratifying the Convention. This amendment proposed establishing a mechanism whereby parliament would be given control over the government's policy in the Schengen Executive Committee by placing, in all matters, a binding requirement for the government to seek a mandate from the parliament's Europe Committee and Committee for Legal Affairs. This amendment was not carried and there are therefore no formal parliamentary controls in place.
These two committees, up to ratification, were given scanty information about matters to be discussed in the Executive Committee. Often there was only a brief account of the agendas and very little information after each meeting in the form of a short note about decisions taken. The Red-Green Alliance's proposal would have meant that the procedures applied to EU-matters in general should be applied to the work in the Schengen Executive Committee.
The procedure before each EU-Council means that the government must present the committees with notes on issues on the agenda to be discussed between the Minister and the committees at the latest 14 days before the meeting, and the presentation of a written report on decisions taken within two weeks of the meeting.
The Government has always opposed parliamentary control but the Minister of Justice, Mr Frank Jensen, conceded during the ratification debate that there needed to be more openness and thus a more democratic procedure: the two committees do now receive more detailed notes but there is still no negotiation about the subjects to be discussed. The official reason given for these very hesitant steps in direction of openness in Schengen matters is that Denmark will not become full member until all other Schengen states have ratified the Danish accession.