German
push for extension of Schengen border controls
Move
comes as Austria demands Greece is suspended from the free-travel
zone.
By HANS VON DER
BURCHARD 1/23/16, 4:54 PM CET Updated 1/23/16, 5:42 PM CET
A group of northern
European Union countries led by Germany wants to keep border controls
within the Schengen free-travel zone in place for many more months
amid a continuing influx of migrants.
Germany, which saw
the arrival of over 1 million asylum-seekers last year, introduced
checks at its land border with Austria in September but these are due
to expire in May. Austria, France, Denmark, Sweden and Norway also
introduced temporary border controls in 2015.
Five countries –
Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden as well as Germany – want to
prolong temporary border checks for a further 18 months, the German
newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported.
“We support
Germany’s aim to extend border controls in the Schengen area for a
further period of up to 18 months,” a spokesperson from the
Austrian interior ministry told POLITICO. The extension will be
discussed at Monday’s meeting of EU justice and home affairs
ministers in Amsterdam, the spokesperson added.
A Swedish diplomat
said his country supports the plan “in principle.”
If the plan is
supported at the ministers’ Monday meeting, the Commission will
need to reassess Schengen rules to make it possible to extend border
controls for a maximum of two years. The Luxembourg presidency, which
was in office until the Dutch took over in January, had already put
forward a proposal to make this possible. A final decision could be
taken at the next summit of heads of government in February.
The push comes as
Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner threatened to
temporarily suspend Greece’s membership in the Schengen zone if the
country does not better control the EU’s external border with
Turkey.
“If the government
in Athens does not finally do more to secure the external borders,
then we must discuss openly the temporary suspension of Greece from
the Schengen Area,” she told Welt am Sonntag.
Almost 37,000
migrants reached Europe by sea in the first three weeks of the year,
of which the biggest number – around 36,000 – took the Eastern
Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece, the International
Organization for Migration said Friday. The number of migrants
reaching Italy and Greece was around ten times higher than in the
same period last year, according to the organization.
“It’s a myth
that the Greek-Turkish border can’t be controlled,” Mikl-Leitner
said. The Greek navy is one of the strongest in Europe, she added,
and with civilian supervision could be used to control and register
incoming migrants.
Winter temperatures
and harsh winds are currently making sea crossings particularly
difficult. So far this year, 113 people have died in the Aegean Sea,
the International Organization for Migration said.
The number of
refugees could quickly rise when the weather improves in late March
or April, William Spindler, a UNHCR spokesperson, told POLITICO.
“So far this year
we have already seen a big increase,” he said. “There is a big
rush of people trying to come to Europe now, as they are afraid that
more countries will seal their borders.”
Jacopo Barigazzi
contributed to this report.
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