The Federal Council plans to invest 300 million euros in the Schengen Funds to better protect the external borders.
Switzerland will receive around 50 million francs from the fund for national measures. Such a decision was revealed by a statement from the Fund for National Measures of the Federal Council, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The same source indicated that effective protection of the external Schengen border contributes to the secure management of migration in Switzerland.
“The more effective the controls at external borders are, the less controls at Swiss national borders are necessary.” notes the press release.
In addition, the Federal Council emphasized that the so-called BMVI fund should contribute to improving the effectiveness of controls and thus to protecting the external borders, as well as to reducing illegal entries.
In addition, the Council should provide funds to facilitate and accelerate regular entries. The embassy said the 50 million that Switzerland will benefit from should be used more to develop IT systems in the Schengen zone.
The BMVI Fund serves as a follow-up mechanism to the Internal Security Fund, which expired at the end of 2020. The financial allocation for the entire BMVI Fund has been estimated at around €6.2 billion for the period 2021 to 2027. .
One year ago, The Swiss authorities welcomed the continued development of the Schengen Information System (SIS), thus aiming to provide additional security to the Schengen zone while emphasizing that the country approved its implementation.
According to the Swiss Federal Council, the implementation in Swiss law at the level of the newly improved SIS ordinances was approved at a meeting on October 19, 2022. It emphasized that the regulation entered into force on November 22 2022.
“The Schengen States wish to improve the Schengen Information System (SIS) in order to optimize security in the Schengen area. The changes strengthen the fight against irregular stay in the Schengen area and cooperation between national security and migration authorities in Europe. » then underlined the declaration of the Federal Council.
The Council said that following the new order, migration services, as well as other authorities, will be able to have the right of access to the sought-after entries.
In addition, it was highlighted that the alert categories for people and objects have been expanded to include, among others, those in need of protection.
The Council also noted that return decisions and all expulsions are recorded in the SIS. Another change announced by the Council concerns the Ordinance on Admission, Stay and Employment (VZAE).