On Thursday 10 October in Luxembourg, Germany’s Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, sought to reassure her partners about the new control measures at all land borders, decided on in the wake of the Solingen attack in August and designed to regulate the arrival of irregular migrants.
Stating that she was in close contact with all her colleagues, the Minister wanted to “take advantage of this opportunity to continue talking together about strengthening internal security, but also about cracking down on illegal immigration”.
“We want to continue to repel illegal immigration, stop people smugglers, but also put a stop to the activities of criminals and detect Islamists at an early stage”, she said as the ministers of the EU and associated countries met in the morning for the ‘Schengen Council’.
“These are the reasons for our border controls. This objective naturally unites us with many Member States. They know that other neighbouring states have also re-established border controls. We are continuing to do this, in close coordination with our neighbours, and we will have to maintain border controls in Germany until we have found European solutions to strengthen the protection of the external border”, the Minister also commented.
On Thursday, Germany also raised the issue of the application of the current Dublin rules, in particular the failure of certain countries to comply with the rules on transfers to the first country of arrival.
Romania and Bulgaria, new discussions. The home affairs ministers also raised the issue of the full integration of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area, with European Commissioner Ylva Johansson expressing the hope that full accession would still take place during her term of office, and again saying she was “very optimistic”.
No decision was taken on Thursday, but discussions between Austria and the two countries are said to be underway. The item will also be on the agenda of the December EU Council, according to the Hungarian minister, Sándor Pintér, who described the discussions as “a good omen for the future”, based in particular on the progress made by the two countries in managing their external borders.
Questioned on the subject, the Austrian minister, Gerhard Karner, felt that “we are on the right track”, but “not yet at the end of the road”. His country has so far blocked the definitive accession of the two countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)