‘Europe’s Biggest Achievement’ Schengen Free Travel Zone Suspended For Two Years

Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, said, “The report shows that there are serious deficiencies in the management of the external border in Greece”.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka accused Greece of failing to protect the Schengen zone’s exterior borders, joining Slovak counterpart Robert Fico in urging Athens to do more.

The criticism came ahead of a Swedish announcement that it intends to expel up to 80,000 migrants who arrived in 2015 and whose application for asylum has been rejected.

Greece is certainly under pressure. European Union member states “gave a clear signal”… Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France have introduced border controls with a six month limit. Existing measures taken by some states under a different rule expire in mid-May. “This includes proper reception, registration, relocation or return of migrants in order to bring Schengen’s functioning back to normal”. “All this needs to be further intensified”, reads the letter.

Greece has been accused of not registering migrants or prohibiting their travel. The buoyancy aides are discarded by migrants and collected from along the shore-l… Greece only has shelter for about 10,000 people. The body of one infant has been recovered. Some Frontex personnel are already at Greece’s northern border, but the agency’s mandate does not allow for interventions in third countries.

Greece has responded firmly to a draft report from the European Commission that has severely criticised its role in the migrant crisis.

Wednesday’s announcement by the commission is a first step in that direction, as Greek non-compliance with any issued recommendations would allow countries to extend border checks.

“There is a worrying tendency among our partners to start justifying the closing of borders, which would be a total failure of Europe”, Mouzalas said. I know that in Slovenia, the similar mobilization of assistance was organized on a bilateral basis between Slovenia and respective member-states. Edwards said part of the humanitarian appeal was to help with the relocation and resettlement of refugees. Those coming to Switzerland have to declare anything more than 1,000 Swiss francs, which is about $981.

Juncker has sent a team of specialists to inspect the border.

The meeting comes only days after European Council President Donald Tusk warned that Europe’s passport-free travel area, known as Schengen, could break apart if the migrant strategy isn’t sorted out within two months. Macedonia and other non-EU countries on the Western Balkans route should do the same under the provisions of their respective national law, whilst respecting their obligation under worldwide law regarding fundamental rights and asylum.

“Managing the refugee flows depends primordially on Turkey and on Turkey’s compliance with what has been agreed, Gerovasili insisted”. It leaves them with the option of toughening Europe’s welcome and hardening Europe’s borders to migrants and refugees.

Minister Asselborn dismissed the idea as “absolute nonsense”, since it was impossible to simply exclude a country from the Schengen area like this, reminding members to remember the European concept of solidarity. In any case, such measures should be in harmony with other European Union measures, such as relocation and resettlement measures.