European Union sets deadline to rule on guarding regional borders

German Chancellor Angela Merkel additionally underlined in that she “very strongly supports” the plan.

At a Brussels summit on Thursday, European Council President Donald Tusk admitted the plan was “most controversial”, but added that without control of the EU’s external borders “we will fail as a political community”.

The EU executive body is also proposing to introduce systematic checks against law enforcement databases for all people entering and exiting the Schengen Area, to determine whether they might be subject to an arrest warrant or in possession of a stolen passport.

Countries farther north in Europe like Germany and Sweden – the preferred destinations of many migrants – are particularly keen to have tighter controls along Greece’s twisting maritime border with Turkey to ease the flow of people, as is France.

Reports show that the proposal faces resistance from countries, particularly from Hungary and Poland, as it requires member states to partly give up a core national sovereignty – border protection, however, the commission argues that quick European Union help is needed in crisis situations even when the member state is reluctant or unable to act, as in the recent case of Greece.

The resettlement scheme is linked to a wider deal with Turkey under which Ankara has pledged to prevent migrants leaving for Greece in return for 3 billion euros ($3.25 billion)from the bloc, accelerated visa-free travel for Turks to the European Union and reviving long stalled membership talks.

Migrants and refugees onboard a dinghy approach a coast after crossing a part of the Aegean sea from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. At the same time, he made it clear he would comply with the EU. The consultations I have led with all Member States show good will of all the parties involved, but it doesn’t change the fact that some parts of the British proposal seem unacceptable. “Some of the other member states are quite bad at it, and there isn’t generally a culture of sharing intelligence”. The potential cost to business, trade and tourism of a full restoration of Europe’s internal borders are too great to ignore. From there, they head to Macedonia and onward to mainland EU.

“The EU’s division on this issue is visible to everyone”, European Parliament President Martin Schulz told reporters as the bloc’s presidents and prime ministers arrived for the summit in Brussels.

However, the organization praised the “extraordinary generosity” of the receiving countries, singling out Turkey, which with 1.84 million refugees at the end of June is the world’s biggest hosting country.