For a Europe of borders

Published on 8 December 2011 at 14:38

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“EU countries are clinging to border controls”, writes the Financial Times Deutschland as it sums up the views most member states take on the proposal from Cecilia Malmström to limit the rights of Schengen area state to restore border controls, as France and Denmark did recently.

On 2 December the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs suggested that this right be granted only in emergencies and for a period of five days at most. Currently, states can re-impose border controls for 30 days in the event of a threat to their internal security.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the German daily, the other members of the Schengen area, with the exception of the Czech Republic, Italy and Lithuania, reject the idea of asking permission from Brussels to restore internal border controls. On the contrary, they demand more freedom in this area, particularly in the face of the influx of migrants, and want countries to have the ability to force their partners to restore controls.

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According to an expert on immigration quoted by a German newspaper, such a move would be “a challenge to European integration”.

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