- Calls to redraw zone which is blamed for spiralling migrant crisis
- A new 'mini-Schengen' with fewer countries proposed to help ease flows
- Emergency EU meeting on Friday will discuss new Schengen borders
- European Council president Donald Tusk says 'clock is ticking'
- See more on Europe's migrant crisis at www.dailymail.co.uk/migrantcrisis
Eastern European countries will be kicked out of the Schengen Zone along with Greece, Spain, and Italy under a radical plan to save the European Union passport-free travel area in the wake of the migrant crisis.
Belgium,
France, German, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are set to re-draw the
boundaries to just include the original members, creating a
‘Mini-Schengen’.
Strict
checks could also be introduced at passport control to systematically
compare the names of all arrivals against those on counter-terrorism
databases – potentially leading to much longer queues.
Crossing: Migrants and refugees arrive
on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from
Turkey. The EU will discuss redrawing the borders of the Schengen Zone
Influx: Migrants and refugees enter a
registration camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border. Greece is
among the countries to be kicked out of the passport-free travel area in
the wake of the migrant crisis
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The
five countries removed all check points between each other 20 years ago,
but the travel area has since grown dramatically to being 26 countries
with a single external border.
The
present-day zone covers all the EU Member States – except the UK,
Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia – as well as Iceland,
Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which are all outside the EU.
As
the migration crisis has spiralled, the Schengen Zone has been blamed
for allowing crowds of asylum seekers to make their way uncontrolled
through the continent.
Kept out: A migrant is lowered down
from a border fence by a Spanish Civil Guard at the border between
Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla. The migrant crisis
is leading to calls to kick Spain, as well as Greece and Italy and
eastern European countries out of the passport-free travel zone Schengen
In
response countries have been bringing back temporary check points
between each other to stem the flow of people and get back control of
who crosses their borders.
One
of the suicide bombers involved in the Paris attacks is believed to
have got to France after posing as a Syrian refugee on the Greek island
of Leros.
An
emergency meeting of EU justice and interior ministers – called
following the attacks - will discuss re-drawing the Schengen Zone in
Brussels on Friday.
In the zone: This is the Schengen area
which could be a lot smaller according to EU plans to stem the migrant
crisis. The countries in red could all be kicked out, leaving in only
the countries in blue
Leaders
have been holding behind closed door discussions ahead of the summit to
work out if a much smaller passport-free travel zone could help ease
the crisis.
The
countries in the new area would work together to control their new
external border more tightly and impose thorough checks on asylum
seekers on arrival.
Refugee camps would also be set up close to the new frontier to help manage the flows.
An EU diplomat told the Daily Mail:
‘We all recognise that Schengen is in trouble and all parties are
trying to find a way to ease the burden created by the migrant crisis.
Target: European Council president Donald Tusk says radical action is needed
‘We have not agreed a solution yet, but we are talking to each other and discussing different options ahead of Friday’s meeting.
But
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who has led the
European Commission shambolic response to the crisis, insisted there
was no need to discuss whether Schengen should be sheleved.
‘If
we make full use of the tools given to us by Schengen our external
borders will be protected in a more efficient way," he said.
‘We don't intend to open a discussion on Schengen's future. Schengen is the greatest achievement of European integration.’
EU
leaders last week admitted they were in a ‘race against time’ to stop
the impending collapse of Schengen as Sweden became the latest country
to slam shut its borders.
The
move was seen as particularly significant as the Scandinavian country
has been one of the most hospitable to migrants with the highest number
per capita in any of Europe.
European
Council president Donald Tusk said the travel zone was destined to fail
without radical action to secure Europe’s external border
‘Let there be no doubt, the future of Schengen is at stake and time is running out,’ the former Polish prime minister said.
‘The clock is ticking, we are under pressure, we need to act fast.
Fight: Migrants try to get onto the
train heading to the Serbian border at the train station in Gevgelija.
Eastern European countries could be excluded from the Schengen Zone
under EU plans
Queue: Migrants after disembarking
from the Royal Navy ship HMS "Bulwark" upon their arrival in the port of
Catania on the coast of Sicily
‘Saving Schengen is a race against time, and we are determined to win that race.’
Mr
Tusk, who chairs the meetings of all 28 EU leaders, said urgent
measures needed to be implemented. ‘This includes, first and foremost,
restoring external border control,’ he said.
‘Without effective border control, the Schengen rules will not survive. We must hurry, but without panic.’
The
Schengen Agreement includes strict rules that mean police are not
allowed to conduct identity checks on those going between countries if
they have ‘an effect equivalent to border checks’.
Border
controls can only be temporarily re-instated for a short period if this
is necessary for ‘public policy or national security’ reasons.
The agreement is named after the town in Luxembourg where it was signed in 1985, a decade before the borders were removed.
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