Schengen Restored The CJEU Sets Clear Limits to the Reintroduction of Internal Border Controls

On 26 April 2022, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) rendered a ruling in joined cases C-368/20 NW v Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark and C-369/20 NW v Bezirkshauptmannschaft Leibnitz stating that Member States of the European Union (EU) can re-introduce border controls within the Schengen Zone only under strict conditions. The Court has stepped up as a guardian of the Treaties protecting free movement of people without controls at the internal borders of the EU as “one of the major achievements of European integration” (para 65 and 74). At the same time, the Court has left some aspects of the application of these strict new rules unclear, leaving room for the European and national executives to exercise their function and fill in the blanks.