PRESS RELEASE : EU’s open border system is ‘like hanging a sign welcoming terrorists to Europe’

The press release issued by Vote Leave on 4 December 2015.

The EU’s open border system – the ‘Schengen’ system – has recently been condemned by the former Secretary General of Interpol, Ronald K Noble, as ‘an international passport-free zone for terrorists to execute attacks on the Continent and make their escape’.

1. The Schengen system forbids countries from carrying out systematic checks on anyone with an EU passport from entering the EU. This makes it much easier for jihadists to enter from the Middle East. The former head of Interpol says this ‘is like hanging a sign welcoming terrorists to Europe. And they have been accepting the invitation’.

2. The UK has lost control of many aspects of border controls and migration (though we have some opt-outs from some EU policies). Our border controls are under constant attack from the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Last year, it said that our Government cannot require migrants from other EU states to have a permit issued by UK authorities – even though permits from other EU countries are systematically forged. The Italian ID card, for instance, is simply a laminated piece of card, and we have no control over the way other EU countries issue their passports. This makes it easier for terrorists to slip through the net.

3. The EU prevents us from removing violent criminals (see the Rafacz case where we could not remove a violent killer). The ECJ also makes it harder for our Government to strip citizenship from British nationals who have gone abroad to engage in terrorism so they will retain the right to come back and live in Britain.

4. Using the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU judges now decide what powers our intelligence agencies and police have to protect us. In November 2015, a UK law to help the security services track terrorists was referred to the ECJ for a decision on whether it is allowed. If we remain in the EU, the ECJ will continue to take more control every year using the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

5. The Charter also stops us removing foreign criminals and terror suspects from the UK if it would violate their ‘private or family life’. It prevents European nations halting the flow of boats across the Mediterranean which have cost so many lives (see particularly the 2011 Hirsi Ali case which prevents EU states turning back a boat of terrorists if there is among them one person at risk of persecution at home).

6. The Charter also removes from the UK the power to interpret the vital 1951 UN Convention ourselves – the EU is now in charge of how we implement this international agreement. The Charter goes far beyond what the UN Refugee Convention requires and threatens the safety of vulnerable migrants and EU citizens. David Cameron once promised ‘a complete opt out’ from the Charter. Now he has abandoned this promise.

7. Brussels’ priority is taking more powers from member states, not security. They are still debating security powers which they said they needed after the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Last week, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said the dangerous Schengen zone must continue or else the euro would die. Now the European Commission wants an EU army and intelligence agency, while the European Parliament has voted to strip the UK of our seat on the UN Security Council.

If we vote to remain in the EU, we will lose more vital powers over security every year. It is safer to Vote Leave and take back control. Outside the EU, we will continue to co-operate with our European partners to fight terrorism and organised crime – just as we do with important allies like the USA – but we will be outside the supremacy of EU law, the rulings of the European courts, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Vote Leave, take control.