BRUSSELS (AP) – Passport-free travel and hassle-free business in Europe has never been in more danger. “Imagine the scale of the prize if we can remain a member of the single market – with 500?million consumers, a quarter of the global economy – with a seat at the table, a say over the rules, making sure we do right for business, jobs and investment in the United Kingdom combined with action to make sure we deal with the things that frustrate people about the European Union”.
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“Currently, the temporary border measures can be taken only for a limited period of six months”. So far, most steps have respected the letter, if not the spirit, of the Schengen rule book.
Most EU nations blame Greece for this.
In the latest idea for discouraging migrants from flooding into Europe, the head of a party in the Dutch ruling coalition said it was drafting a plan under which those arriving in Greece by sea could be dispatched straight back to Turkey.
Which countries have removed internal borders?
Turkey has taken little action to stop the activities of people smugglers on its coasts whilst also placing obstacles to repatriation of economic migrants.
Greek migration minister Ioannis Mouzalas told Greek Skai television that Athens had faced delays and needed extra help in setting up island screening centers – hotspots supervised by the EU.
With Schengen under threat, few palatable options are available and time is running out.
“Despite worldwide agreements, irregular migrants’ readmission by their respective countries of origin, including Turkey, has shown results close to zero”, she said. Greek officials accused the European Union of peddling “lies” that it does not want to control its border and said it had not been consulted on the plan.
Greece has responded firmly to a draft report from the European Commission that has severely criticised its role in the migrant crisis.
He said there were “serious deficiencies in the carrying out of external border controls that must be overcome and dealt with by the Greek authorities”.
“Indeed we have seen that the numbers of people arriving in Europe who don’t have a genuine claim to asylum have been rising slightly”, a spokeswoman for the European Commission told a regular news briefing. If the Commission΄s conclusions are confirmed by a majority of the 26 Schengen states, he continued, the European Commission will then recommed remedial procedures, giving Greece three months in which to comply.
The assessment comes from a still secret Schengen evaluation report on Greece that the commission would forward to member states.
“We know that migratory flows are not going to be subsiding soon and as the weather changes are even likely to increase”. The Czech Republic has invited regional neighbours Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to a special summit on February 15 to discuss the crisis.
Most of the new arrivals have come through Greece, sitting as it does on the edge of the passport-free Schengen area.
Austria’s Interior Minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, earlier warned that Greece might be excluded from the Schengen zone if it failed to put more resources into curbing the migrant influx. Wednesday’s warning from the commission confirmed that.
“The Commission is now examining possible incentives – positive and negative – so that this accord is applied properly”, Bertaud said.
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On January 20, Macedonia closed its border with Greece to refugees and migrants, calling it a temporary measure.
