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Spain/France: Hot pursuit puts Schengen under strain

01 September 1998

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A French court has summonsed five officers of the Ertaintza (the Basque police) to give evidence about their arrest of two French youths in France after a spectacular chase. On 15 April 1996 six Ertzaintza members patrolling in the border area crossed it to arrest the two, who had been driving while drunk and had broken through several roadblocks before crossing into France. The autonomus region's police force maintained that the Schengen accords permitted border crossings in hot pursuit of suspects, and that the incursion had been within the 10 kilometre limit envisaged by Schengen. The difficulty arises from the fact that the treaty governing Spain's adhesion to the accords specifies only the National Police and the Guardia Civil as the forces permitted to take advantage of the relevant provisions. This is merely the latest in a series of disagreements between the Basque and Spanish governments around security issues.

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