European officials call for heightened Schengen controls

Top internal affairs officials from European countries on Friday called for heightened border controls and assistance to border countries under disproportionate pressure from the wave of migrants.

A statement issued by officials of Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and non-EU member Norway called for establishing a European Border Guard and for reinforcing Frontex, the EU agency for the management of operational cooperation at the external borders.

The statement also focused on IT systems, which, they said, needed upgrading, so that systematic controls could be introduced while maintaining the right to free movement within the EU.

They noted that establishing EU border registration systems were expensive and required a great deal of work from border countries. They also called on the European External Action Service (EEAS) to increase its cooperation with third countries to facilitate the return of migrants.

Hungary's Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi pointed out that since other countries had neglected to do so, Hungary had been forced to register 190,000 migrants despite Dublin rules calling for their registration in the first EU country they entered.

He also noted that Hungary's national-level regulations had proved successful in alleviating the flow of migrants, according to Hungarian News Agency.

Other leaders called the proposed measures a way to strengthen the EU, not weaken it.

Polish Internal Affairs official Jakub Skiba offered his country as headquarters for the European Border Guard as it already was home to Frontex.

Romanian Internal Affairs State Secretary Tiberiu Trifan said his country, an EU member but not within the Schengen zone, was reinforcing all external borders in hope of admission to the inner EU zone.

Norway's Internal Affairs State Secretary Ove Andre Vanebo said his country planned to build a fence along its external border, working in cooperation with its Russian neighbor. Endit