Schengen states seek to extend internal border controls

But the Dutch European Commissioner said this week that 60 per cent of those entering the EU now were “economic migrants” who were not fleeing war.

But Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: “We are saving Schengen by applying Schengen”.

In fresh signs of growing nervousness with the migration crisis, Denmark on Thursday passed news laws – criticized by rights groups – aimed at deterring refugees and Sweden announced it would likely deport up to a half of the 2015 record 163,000 asylum seekers. Earlier this week, he had proposed that Greece host 200,000 to 300,000 migrants in camps to prevent them from going further into the EU.

The refugees make the unsafe journey across the Aegean, Simon said, because “they think it’s better than being on land, and that says everything to you [about] their situation, to try to get to freedom, because it’s a better option than anywhere else”.

If the Commission΄s conclusions are confirmed by a majority of the 26 Schengen states, he continued, the European Commission will then recommed remedial procedures, giving Greece three months in which to comply.

“While discussions have been good and positive, we note that there are still difficulties with this readmission deal”, Bertaud said.

This would reduce pressure on Western Balkan countries that are on the refugee route and ultimately curb the flow of migrants to countries like Germany and Austria.

“The Commission is now examining possible incentives – positive and negative – so that this accord is applied properly”. More than 60 have drowned on the crossing since January 1.

Swedish officials have called for greater security at overcrowded asylum centres after the fatal stabbing this week of an employee at a refugee centre for unaccompanied youths. But the European Commission has made clear there is no plan or mechanism to isolate Greece or suspend it from the Schengen agreement.

He added there were “serious deficiencies in the carrying out of external border controls that must be overcome and dealt with by the Greek authorities”.

An extension of border controls has also sparked concerns that Greece, the landing point for about 80% of all migrants arriving in Europe, could be effectively frozen out of Schengen.

“If we can not secure the outer border [of the EU], regardless of how costly or demanding that is, we will destroy the Schengen regime by ourselves”, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (pictured) warned on a visit to Slovenia last week, Ekathimerini reported.

The report found failures to register, check and fingerprint migrants arriving in November in line with the Schengen Information System (SIS), as well as problems with the migrant reception standards and deportation.

The Greek coast guard said a rescue effort was made by its vessels, those of the EU’s border patrol agency Frontex, and by Greek rescue volunteers.

On the frontline of the migration flows – 850,000 migrants traversed Greece previous year – Athens is furious at being scapegoated by the rest of the European Union and fears the impact of being quarantined.

Expert teams arrived in Greece and on islands in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey to test the level of border checks. About 90 percent were from Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.

However, the arrival of more than a million people in the past year, many of them refugees, with all the challenges, political and practical, that brings, is straining Europe.