News / Germany

Germany after Schengen border controls extension: Report

Saturday, 23 January 2016 2:27 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 23 January 2016 2:45 PM ]

Refugees wait outside a ferry after their arrival at the port of Piraeus near Athens, Greece, January 23, 2016. (AP photo)

Germany, along with several other European Union member states, is asking for border controls in the Schengen free-travel zone to be extended in a bid stem the flow of refugees into Europe, a report says.

According to a report by the Welt am Sonntag Sunday newspaper, Austria, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark are also among those pushing for the extension of the checks on selected Schengen borders.

EU interior ministers are purportedly set to discuss the initiative at a meeting in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam on Monday.

If approved, Germany would become able to prolong its border controls for a further 1-1/2 years.

The development comes as over one million refugees, mostly from crisis-hit countries in the Middle East and North Africa, entered Europe in 2015.

The massive arrivals have prompted six Schengen members, including Germany, as well as four other EU countries, to restore temporary border checks in the passport-free zone.

Officials in European countries are struggling to forge a united response to the record numbers of refugees flocking into the continent.

European leaders who have gathered in the Swiss town of Davos to attend the 2016 World Economic Forum have called for a common approach to the refugee crisis and security challenges in the next few months. They have warned that the 28-member bloc could fall apart if member states fail to reach an agreement.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, meanwhile, said at the summit on Saturday that a failure to handle the refugee crisis could threaten Europe’s integrity and endanger the Schengen area.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, attends the session "The Global Economic Outlook" during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2016. (Reuters photo)

"The refugee crisis is a bit of a make or break, from my personal perspective," Lagarde told a panel in Davos.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also cautioned on January 21 that the EU runs the risk of "fracturing" over several issues, including the refugee influx.

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