EU renews border controls in parts of Schengen area
The European Union has allowed five countries to continue enforcing border controls in parts of the bloc’s passport-free Schengen area.
The EU issued a statement on Tuesday, allowing Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, which is not a member, to extend border measures until May 11.
"Starting from 11 February 2017, when the previous decision expires, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway should prolong proportionate temporary border controls for a maximum period of three months," said the statement, making a reference to checks that had already been renewed from November.
The announcement comes amid increasing concerns in the EU that members of the bloc could face a fresh influx of refugees from Africa.
Italy recorded more than 180,000 arrivals, mostly from Libya, last year, prompting the EU to keep in place restrictions that it had introduced after more than a million people hit Europe’s borders in early 2015.
A deal between the EU and Turkey last March caused the flow to subside and Brussels said the Schengen area, which includes 22 EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, could return to full functioning by the end of 2016. However, the EU Commission said last month that "conditions... allowing for a return to a normally functioning Schengen area have not yet been entirely fulfilled."
The European Union has always boasted of Schengen as one of its proudest achievements and a cornerstone of its principle of freedom of movement. The continued checks could well play into the hands of far-right, anti-refugee parties across Europe who have largely capitalized on a crumbling Schengen as a sign of the EU’s need for more and more controls on borders.
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