EU Interior Heads Agree on Schengen Amendments

EU's Interior Ministers agreed Thursday with the necessity to amend laws concerning the Schengen agreement forced by the vast influx of North African migrants.

Should the amendments be materialized, temporary internal border controls might be renewed when it is necessary for Schengen to accommodate massive and unexpected migration surges

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, however, warned border control rules needed "increased clarity ... to avoid unilateral, uncoordinated decisions by member states."

"Currently it seems that the majority view is ... that one country should not be in a position to make a decision like that. That might trigger a chain reaction," Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, said, as cited by Deutche Welle.

In the beginning of May, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy held talks in Rome that ended with a request to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for changes to Schengen.

The European Commission then announced a set initiatives cover various aspects of migration, including strengthened border control and Schengen governance, completion of the Common European Asylum System, more targeted legal migration, exchange of best practices for successful integration of migrants, and a strategic approach for relations with third countries on migration.

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