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The European Union’s passport-free zone, known as the Schengen scheme, is “on the brink of collapse” amid the continued influx of refugees into Europe, EU interior ministers said Monday on the sidelines of a meeting in Amsterdam.
“Schengen is on the brink of collapse,” Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the Austrian interior minister, told reporters after more than eight hours of talks in the Dutch capital.
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Seems there's no interest in the story anymore but refugees/ migrants still trying 2 reach Europe. Macedonian border pic.twitter.com/MMbUAM8qVn
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa)
January 19, 201
She criticized Greece for failing to stop the influx of refugees into the EU and rejected Athens’ claim that it was difficult to implement controls on the waters between Turkey and Greece. “Greece has one of the biggest navies in Europe. It’s a myth that the Greek-Turkish border cannot be protected,” she said.
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Meanwhile, Swedish Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman threatened Greece with expulsion from the zone, echoing criticisms by other ministers. “If a country doesn’t live up to its obligations, we will have to restrict its connections to the Schengen area.”
#EU threatens #Greece with Schengen expulsion over #RefugeesGR - tends to forget its responsibility to the whole European management mess
— Marianna Karakoulaki (@Faloulah)
January 25, 201
According to the Dutch Migration Minister, several EU countries will ask the European Commission to extend border controls starting May in a bid to stem the influx of refugees, which does not show any signs of slowing down.
More than 35,000 people made the risky trip between Turkey and Greece since the start of 2016 less than a month ago. That is 20 times more than the same period last year.
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Under the rules governing the open travel area, governments could suspend the more than 20-year-old Schengen system for two years, threatening the collapse of the union itself in the long run. “These measures are inevitable at this point in time,” said Dijkhoff of the likely suspension.
Germany and Sweden, who have taken in more than 90 percent of the 1 million refugees who arrived in Europe last year, could seek to suspend the passport-free system.
In 2015,Germany was main EU country of dest. for #migrants & refugees.IOM presents main data https://t.co/th8Meqa0ou pic.twitter.com/M7BFx4V1bx
— IOM (@IOM_news)
January 25, 201
“We don’t have any good options, only bad options on the table,” a senior diplomat in Brussels told The Guardian Monday. “This simply can’t continue. There’s agreement among the member states on that.”
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Austria was the first country to suspend the Schengen agreement last week and some eastern European nations did the same, meaning thousands of refugees in Greece could be forced to remain there indefinitely.
Macedonia closed its borders with Greece last week, while Serbia and Croatia imposed border controls allowing only those seeking asylum in Austria and Germany to pass through.
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