The European Union announces the reform of the Schengen area
The European Commission has launched an initiative to reform the Schengen area – to strengthen the protection of common borders while preserving freedom of movement within
They started talking about reform last fall, and against the background of the epidemic and the migration crisis on the borders of Poland and Belarus, this reform has not lost its relevance.
“The proposed changes are aimed at strengthening coordination within the EU and will provide countries with better tools to deal with the complexities of managing the EU’s common external borders, as well as internal borders in the Schengen area,” the European Commission said in a statement.
In the event of a new crisis with illegal immigrants, the Commission proposes to reduce the number of existing checkpoints, to strengthen measures to protect the external borders of the European Union, and to consider refugee applications for asylum on border lands.
According to European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, the border restrictions will be an extreme measure, which will be applied after “a general assessment of the situation and only for the required period”.
Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that migrants in Poland cannot be returned to Belarus.
