Of course, France routinely violates the Schengen agreement by requiring to see all passengers' IDs on night trains crossing its border to Spain, so this is not entirely surprising on the part of France.
Interestingly enough, not on the night trains crossing the border to Germany. Could this have to do with North African migrants transiting through Spain? Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
On the Amsterdam-München CityNightLine service last weekend Netherlands Police boarded the train at Venlo and shone a flashlight in everyone's faces at the border. Last night it was even more ludicrous - police controls (by French and Italian police) at the railway station at Paris Bercy before boarding the overnight train to Firenze SMN. I asked one of the police why the checks were happening and he looked at me as if I was from a strange planet and said "c'est la police étrangère", meaning what exactly? Then on the train the cabin attendant demanded we hand in identity cards and tickets to him for the border checks, and the train did not pass via Switzerland as far as I am aware... Sorry, but what is going on here? This is also not the first time I've faced similar checks either. And why rail passengers? Are similar checks being re-introduced on the roads as well? For - at least as far as trains are concerned - Schengen is a myth.
Last night it was even more ludicrous - police controls (by French and Italian police) at the railway station at Paris Bercy before boarding the overnight train to Firenze SMN. I asked one of the police why the checks were happening and he looked at me as if I was from a strange planet and said "c'est la police étrangère", meaning what exactly? Then on the train the cabin attendant demanded we hand in identity cards and tickets to him for the border checks, and the train did not pass via Switzerland as far as I am aware...
Sorry, but what is going on here? This is also not the first time I've faced similar checks either. And why rail passengers? Are similar checks being re-introduced on the roads as well? For - at least as far as trains are concerned - Schengen is a myth.
Coelho's report includes a call for tougher Parliamentary scrutiny of the system's migration to the new system to prevent additional delays and costs.A test in March ended with the system breaking down but was declared a success by the European Commission, whose experts said that the member states had fed too many data into the computer system. The SIS II is being developed by a consortium led by Steria, a French company, and Hewlett-Packard Belgium, with overall project management in the hands of the Commission. Officials estimate that the project has cost between €80 million and €90m so far, which is much higher than the €16m originally set aside
A test in March ended with the system breaking down but was declared a success by the European Commission, whose experts said that the member states had fed too many data into the computer system.
The SIS II is being developed by a consortium led by Steria, a French company, and Hewlett-Packard Belgium, with overall project management in the hands of the Commission. Officials estimate that the project has cost between €80 million and €90m so far, which is much higher than the €16m originally set aside
