EU states seek extension of border controls within Schengen

Nikos Toskas, a deputy interior minister, said it was hard to stop some refugee-laden boats “except via sinking or shooting”.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, sought to tamp down speculation that it might be bolstering Macedonia’s border to bar Greece from the EU’s passport-free travel area known as the Schengen zone.

Without a clear drop in the numbers arriving before she meets fellow European Union leaders at a summit in mid-February, some form of border closer by the bloc’s leading power, which would have a knock-on effect across Europe, would be increasingly likely – not least as Germans vote in key regional elections in March.

But under the Article 26 procedure that controls can be prolonged for up to two years if a member state struggles with “persistent serious deficiencies in the carrying out of external border control” that places “risks” on the overall functioning of the area.

Interviewed by Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper, she said that “if the Athens government doesn’t in the end do more to protect the [EU] external borders, then we’ll have to openly discuss a temporary exclusion of Greece from the Schengen zone”.

According to the Dutch Migration Minister, several EU countries will ask the European Commission to extend border controls starting May in a bid to stem the influx of refugees, which does not show any signs of slowing down. Many hope to be find sanctuary in Germany or Sweden, and these countries and their neighbors say they will have to impose border controls if Greece can’t or won’t.

Nations are now set to reimpose border controls for the first time in more than 30 years, effectively killing off Brussels’ dream of creating a European superstate to rival America and China.

The EU is facing its worst refugee crisis in history, with more than a million migrants and refugees fleeing there from poor and war-torn countries previous year.

The EU has taken various steps to give cash-strapped Athens financial assistance to deal with the crisis, but many member states believe Athens is not using that enough.

Ioannis Mouzalas, the Greek minister for migration, blamed other European governments for failing to help settle refugees in Turkey and for refusing to house those who hazard the journey towards the continent’s wealthier west.

Meanwhile, EU ministers were due to open talks on Monday in Amsterdam on ways to save the Schengen zone from collapse under migrant flows and tackle the jihadist scourge as a new counter-terrorism centre is launched. “Schengen is part of the blame game”, he said.

While de Maizière acknowledged that there was more the rest of Europe could do to support Greece, including boosting resources to the border agency Frontex, Austria was less forgiving. It, too, is incapable of controlling its waters and continues to allow migrants to travel north.

Greece would have three months – until May, when the six-month period for temporary border controls expires – to come up with solutions.

Media on Tuesday mostly carried angry reactions to pressure from the European Union because of Greece’s inability to stop the surge of people arriving across the Aegean Sea.

“Member states invited the commission to prepare the legal and practical basis for the continuance of temporary border measures”, he said.