EU
pushes ‘worst-case scenario’ to stem migrant crisis
Schengen
faces collapse as countries seek to extend internal border controls.
By JACOPO BARIGAZZI
1/25/16, 7:19 PM CET Updated 1/25/16, 9:53 PM CET
AMSTERDAM — The
future of the Schengen zone of passport-free travel is in serious
doubt, as EU countries Monday prepared for the worst and sought
permission to extend internal border controls for up to two years.
After a tense
meeting of EU interior ministers in Amsterdam, Klaas Dijkhoff, the
migration minister of the Netherlands, said they “invited the
[European] Commission to prepare the legal and practical basis for
the continuance of temporary border measures.”
The announcement
came after several days in which EU countries said more needed to be
done to control the flow of refugees across European borders. Germany
and Austria stepped up pressure on Greece, for example, warning that
it could be excluded from the Schengen zone unless it did a better
job of controlling its external borders.
Dijkhoff said the
procedure sought Monday, known as Schengen’s Article 26, was not
intended to “push a country” out of the agreement.
But Etienne
Schneider, Luxembourg’s deputy prime minister, said rows between
member countries were unhelpful. “I am tired of all this finger
pointing, there’s no need for it,” he told POLITICO. “The
countries that point the finger at Greece are not showing their hand
when we are talking about redistributing refugees.”
The process
announced Monday will allow the extension of internal border controls
for a maximum of two years for those countries that ask for it,
including Germany and Austria, which reintroduced them in September.
So far, six
countries in the Schengen group have reintroduced internal border
controls to cope with the influx of refugees and the related security
concerns: France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Austria.
Berlin and Vienna could be the first ones to extend the controls
since they were the first ones to reintroduce them.
The process will not
be quick, according to an official: Once the Commission has presented
its opinion on extending the controls, then the Council can issue a
recommendation to national governments.
The decision to
extend the controls is considered as a last resort.
“The measure is a
worst-case scenario in case the measure is needed,” said one
diplomat, stressing that in the meantime countries will go ahead with
the implementation of current measures in the EU migration strategy,
such as relocation of asylum-seekers and the joint action plan with
Turkey.
The measure will be
taken “if we cannot obtain a quick implementation of the agenda,”
said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in a press
conference.
Relocation woes
The ministers also
discussed the future of the EU’s troubled refugee relocation scheme
as well as a proposal to set up an EU border and coast guard.
On Monday, 63
refugees were relocated from Greece to France and Finland, bringing
the total of those moved to 414 — out of the 160,000 who were
supposed to be relocated under the scheme.
Dimitris
Avramopoulos, the EU migration commissioner, said the time for
excuses was over, and that in “four or five weeks” all 11
“hotspots” for processing asylum applications in Greece and Italy
will be operational. But he warned that “from the moment hotspots
start working, nobody will have an argument not to take part in the
[refugee relocation] scheme.”
There are two main
problems with the relocation scheme, EU officials say: the reluctance
of member countries to fulfill their pledges and that many refugees
want to go to a particular country, not be sent anywhere in the bloc.
The official added that some member countries are also being picky
about who they want to take — “Families are much easier to
relocate.”
One major point of
contention is the failure of the EU-Turkey plan to stem the flow of
migrants into Europe, which officials say has a knock-on effect
throughout Europe. “In the short term, the target is to get more
out of it [the Turkey plan],” Dijkhoff said after Monday’s talks
The path to an EU
border and coast guard does not look straightforward either.
Ministers have discussed it but Spain, Greece and Malta have raised
concerns, including about having EU guards deployed on their
territory without their permission. Some ministers also want member
countries, not the Commission, to have the final say on the scheme.
Despite this, the
Dutch presidency of the Council of Ministers wants a final decision
on the coast guard plan by the end of June.
Luxembourg’s
Schneider said it would be “difficult” to hit that target. “I
have the feeling that all the ministers are aware of what we are
talking and about the urgency: everybody knows that if we don’t
solve the problems now, the EU as whole will have a problem and the
EU as whole might collapse.”
Authors:
Jacopo Barigazzi
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