Europe's passport-free travel zone is in danger
For years, travel across dozens of European countries has been easy, unhindered by border checks across several countries. Today there are 26 countries in the Schengen Zone — but the days of free travel could be numbered.
The European Union is considering re-introducing border checks, suspending open borders for up to two years.
More than 1 million people have streamed into the EU hoping for sanctuary or jobs. In response, nations have erected fences, deployed troops and tightened border controls.
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Thus far, what the countries have done has been within the legal limits of Schengen regulations. However, in mid-May, the ability of countries like Germany, Austria and Sweden to legally impose ID checks on everyone who enters, including Europeans, begins to run out. But the influx of people is not expected to slow.
"Our citizens have a right to feel safe," Roberta Metsola, a leading EU lawmaker on migration, told the Associated Press. "If that means that we will need to keep stock of who is crossing our borders for a specific amount of time, then we will have to do it."
The EU's executive Commission is preparing a plan that could allow border checks in some countries to be extended for up to two years.
“These measures are inevitable at this point in time,” said Klaas Dijkhoff, the Dutch migration minister, at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Amsterdam on Monday.
But the plan might take three months to introduce, which effectively means the Commission has about two weeks to get its work done to meet the May deadline, according to EU officials.
EU leaders would debate the plan at a summit starting on Feb. 18.
The move involves establishing that there is "a serious and persistent deficiency" at one or more of Europe's borders to the outside world. A status report on Greece is being drafted.
If a large majority of the EU's 28 nations support it, border controls could be introduced for all people entering the rest of the Schengen zone from Greece, including Greek citizens.
European leaders will discuss internal border checks in more detail next month.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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