3 Written explanations of Michal ŠIMEČKA

I noted with great regret that the current EU-UK negotiations are in a stalemate. The risk of a highly restricted agreement or a no-deal scenario has even further exacerbated following the decision of the United Kingdom not to seek an extension to the transition period. Pressured by a tight schedule and facing several difficult areas of negotiation, I fear that a deep and comprehensive agreement encompassing both political and economic areas of cooperation has been put at risk. At the same time, the Union cannot trade away the coherence of its internal rules for a pick-and-choose agreement with the UK. A new impetus in the negotiations is therefore needed in order to conclude a reasonable agreement in a timely manner. I believe that such a signal has been sent by the most recent European Parliament recommendation to the EU-UK negotiations, which I fully support.

I strongly condemn the death of George Floyd and similar killings that happened in recent years in the United States, as well as cases of police violence accompanying the protests following Mr Floyd’s death. I regret to add, however, that structural discrimination of people of colour is not only omnipresent in the United States, but takes place equally in our region, despite anti-discrimination legislation being largely in place. Not only have recent reports of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights noted that people of colour commonly face racist harassment in their daily lives, but sometimes even Member State policies contribute to patterns of discrimination. The situation of Roma in Slovakia is a case in point. Effective inclusion of Roma children in compulsory school education and cases of police brutality demonstrate that racism is a serious issue in many parts of Europe.

In the last few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has put our common Schengen area under the biggest test since its inception. Decades of deepening common trust between the Member States have dissipated overnight in the form of uncoordinated and unilateral closure of internal borders.The emergency situation, of course, required emergency measures, but EU citizens rightly expected more coordinated and coherent action from the Member States. We must bear in mind that the Schengen area is a cornerstone of our freedoms and of the functioning of the single market and none of this will be sustainable if the first instinct of governments will be an immediate and unilateral closure of internal borders.I therefore believe that we must learn from this experience and start working on changes that will increase the resilience of the Schengen system in the future. Bearing this in mind, I supported the European Parliament resolution aiming at addressing these shortcomings.