President Jean-Claude Juncker this afternoon spoke on the phone
with Chancellor Angela Merkel where she informed him about the temporary
reintroduction of controls at the borders with other EU-Member States,
particularly at the German-Austrian border.
The temporary
reintroduction of border controls between Member States is an
exceptional possibility explicitly foreseen in and regulated by the
Schengen Borders Code, in case of a crisis situation.
The current situation in Germany, prima facie, appears to be a situation covered by the rules.
The
EU institutions...
have the task to ensure the proportionality of the
exceptional measures concerned. The Commission will closely monitor the
situation and keep the European Parliament and the Council fully
informed, as foreseen in the Schengen Borders Code. The objectives of
our efforts must be to help ensure that we can go back to the normal
Schengen system of open borders between Schengen Member States as soon
as feasible.
The German decision of today underlines the urgency
to agree on the measures proposed by the European Commission in order to
manage the refugee crisis.
As President Juncker said in his State of the Union speech:
The free movement of people under Schengen is a unique symbol of
European integration. However, the other side of the coin is a better
joint management of our external borders and more solidarity in coping
with the refugee crisis. This is why Monday's extraordinary Council of
Interior Ministers is so important. We need swift progress on the
Commission's proposals now.
