EU Proposes to Extend Border Controls inside Schengen Area

Police mounts a temporary fence to ease border controls preventing illegal migrants to enter Sweden, at Hyllie train station in southern Malmo, Sweden, 3 January 2016. The station is the first stop after crossing the Oresund Bridge from Denmark. Photo EPA

The European Commission has proposed to extend for up to six months temporary controls at internal Schengen borders in five Member States which attract the majority of refugees and migrants streaming into Europe.

The proposed recommendation, to be decided upon by the Council  of the EU, takes into account the fact that despite the significant progress made by Greece, not all of the serious deficiencies identified in the country’s external border management could be adequately and comprehensively addressed within the three months' limit, the Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.

The five countries -  Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden - have already temporarily reintroduced controls at some of their borders to curb the the threat to internal security resulting from the secondary movements of irregular migrants.

The reintroduction of controls is foreseen under the Schengen Borders Code, which sets out a specific procedure for exceptional circumstances where the overall functioning of the Schengen area is put at risk by serious and persistent deficiencies at an EU external border.

The Commission has recommended that Austria kept controls at its borders with Hungary and Slovenia; Germany – at its land border with Austria; Denmark – at its ports with ferry links to Germany as well as the Danish-German land border.

The recommendation gives Sweden the right to keep border controls in the country’s harbours in the south and west as well as at the Oresund bridge, while Norway is to keep border checks at its ports with ferry links to Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

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