1st LD Writethru: Netherlands to carry out extra border controls

The Netherlands on Monday afternoon announced extra border controls as the number of refugees reaching the country kept surging in the past few weeks.

Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff said that mobile teams of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (a gendarmerie force) are going to carry out extra border controls, reported Dutch press.

Dijkhoff made this statement in Brussels ahead of the European extraordinary meeting to discuss the immigration crisis.

"We are not going to stop everyone at the border. This measure consists of more frequent checks in the border region and more people getting picked out to be checked," said Dijkhoff.

He added that the extra border controls are a method to quickly check whether the flood of refugees is moving towards the Netherlands. "If that is the case, we will consider whether or not additional measures should be taken," he said.

Last week about 3100 refugees registered at the application center in the northern Dutch city of Ter Apel, according to figures from the Dutch "Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA)".

The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee is one of the four services of the armed forces of the Netherlands. The gendarmerie force performs both military police and civil police duties.

All checkpoints along the border between the Netherlands and Belgium have been removed since the Schengen Agreement led to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. But the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee still monitors the border with mobile teams.

According to Schengen Borders Code, "Where there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security, these [EU] countries may exceptionally reintroduce border controls at its internal borders for a period of no more than 30 days (possible to prolong under conditions established by the code) or for the foreseeable duration of the serious threat."

Consultations may take place between EU countries and the Commission at least 10 days before the planned reintroduction of border controls.

"Under exceptional circumstances, and where a serious threat to public policy or internal security in an EU country requires immediate action, the latter may reintroduce border controls at its internal borders immediately. The other EU countries and the Commission are then notified accordingly," according to the Code.

On Sunday Germany reintroduced border controls on its border with Austria after more than 13,000 migrants arrived in Munich on Saturday.

According to Dijkhoff, a formal decision on the relocation of refugees across the EU Member States is not yet to be expected following Monday's extraordinary meeting. "Some tough discussions are necessary before we are ready to make such a decision," said Dijkhoff.

Last week the Dutch government reached an agreement on the Netherlands' efforts to address the current refugee problem. In the short term, the government will agree to a distribution of refugees across the European countries and the Netherlands accepts that thousands of additional migrants, possibly 7,000 to 9,000, will arrive in the country on the condition that all European countries participate.

To increase the refugee capacity in countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan the Dutch government will add another 110 million euros (123 million U.S. dollars) on top of previous contributions.

For the long term the Netherlands only wants to receive refugees who reported in a designated safe area in the region of war zones. These refugees have to make an application for asylum in a safe area outside the European Union. The Dutch government announced earlier that it will advocate this approach at the EU emergency meeting.

The Netherlands wants to make agreements with countries in the vicinity of Syria that are considered safe, such as Turkey and Jordan, so that application centers can be arranged there. The refugees entitled to asylum can then be safely distributed across the EU member states.

According to the plan approved applicants are getting a residence permit for a specific European country in which they must settle. They cannot travel to another European country. Refugees travelling on their own from a safe country in the region will be sent back to this safe country. Endit