quinta-feira, 19 de novembro de 2015

Five nations consider mini-Schengen


Five nations consider mini-Schengen

Discussions underway on radical changes to border-free zone.

By HANS VON DER BURCHARD 11/19/15, 10:46 PM CET Updated 11/19/15, 10:54 PM CET

Radical changes to the EU’s Schengen area have been floated less than a week after the terror attacks in Paris raised questions about the future of the border-free zone.

Five EU members — Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — talked about creating a “mini-Schengen,” Bert Koenders, the Dutch foreign minister, told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. It would be a dramatically scaled-down version of the passport-free zone, which currently has 26 members.

Bert Koenders, the Dutch foreign minister, told the newspaper there were “very exploratory talks,” although he did not use the phrase “mini-Schengen.”

At a news conference in Berlin Thursday, Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, said the Dutch had raised the idea on several occasions, but Germany was not too enthusiastic. “Our political goal must be that the Schengen area as a whole functions,” he said. “Everything else would just be supplementary considerations.”

Civil servants from the above “like-minded member states” are meeting in Brussels for talks, an EU diplomat involved in the discussions told POLITICO Thursday. “We discuss Schengen and how the current extra burden through the refugee crisis can be relieved. This had already started before the Paris attacks. The group also discusses how the [EU’s] external borders can be better protected,” the diplomat said.

So far these discussions have not led to any plan being presented to the European Commission, the diplomat said, adding “our aim is to find a way to ease the pressure on Schengen.”

A Commission source said Thursday that they were “not aware” of a mini-Schengen plan.

Europe’s borders and migration policies will be discussed by all 28 EU interior ministers in Brussels Friday.

Some diplomats called the mini-Schengen plan a way to put pressure on Italy and Greece to do more to process migrants.

According to EU plans, migration “hotspots” will have to be ready by the end of the month. “Since many countries do not believe this will happen for real, they are drawing up alternative plans,” said a EU diplomat.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, strongly defended the Schengen area Wednesday, saying it was “the greatest achievement of European integration.”

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed to this article.

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Hans von der Burchard  

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