On Wednesday 10 May, representatives from the member states approved the extension of internal Schengen border area controls, as recommended by the Commission on 2 May (see EUROPE 11779).
According to one source, Ministers for Trade will formally adopt this decision as Point A of their meeting. This same source indicated that the decision to adopt this measure was not unanimous. Slovenia is one of the countries strongly opposed to this measure and has sent several letters to the European Commission about the subject.
Despite its promises to bring back the Schengen area in its initial shape, the Commission proposed one last time on 2 May, to allow five countries (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Norway) the possibility of carrying out controls of certain parts of their respective borders due to migration related risks. The Commission effectively decided that these risks were indeed very real.
The Commission, however, has called on these five countries to begin putting alternative measures into place, such as police checks in border areas, which it considers will be less unwieldy when it comes to implementation. The Commission also indicated that these police checks could be carried out at any time in compliance with the Schengen border code and therefore appears to be suggesting, that for the time being, it is not planning on any reforms to Schengen legislation. (Solenn Paulic)