EU proposes to prolong controls at certain Schengen borders

The European Commission here on Wednesday proposed a recommendation to prolong proportionate controls at certain internal Schengen borders, namely in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Norway for a maximum period of six months.

According to a Commission press release, the overall functioning of the Schengen area is still at risk and therefore the Commission proposed that the Council adopts the recommendation for member states currently carrying out internal border controls.

Specifically, the Commission proposed frontiers such as the Austrian-Hungarian land border, German-Austrian land border, Danish ports with ferry connections to Germany, among others, be controlled.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that there was still "considerable migratory pressure" at EU's external border, and large numbers of migrants present in Greece.

"Therefore, as long as serious deficiencies in border management persist, some internal border control measures should be maintained," he said.

Timmermans acknowledged that the EU has a roadmap to return to a normal functioning of the Schengen zone by November and member states need to get there in an orderly way.

These member states "should during this period keep the controls under regular review, and adjust them to the level of threat identified," said the press release.

The recommendation is now to be decided upon by the Council of the EU. Enditem