MigrationNews

Austria Prolongs Border Checks with Slovenia and Hungary

The Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Peschorn says Austria will extend internal Schengen border controls with Hungary and Slovenia, due to security and continuous significant secondary movements.

“We will take account of the circumstances and continue the existing border checks at the borders with Hungary and Slovenia,” Minister Peschorn said, announcing the news.

The current border checks, which were set to expire on November 11, 2019, will be prolonged for six more months, until May 2020.

The move comes two weeks after the German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer initiated the procedures for the extension of internal border checks with Austria for another six months, for the tenth time in a row since 2015.

The EU Member States participating in the Schengen Area have continued to reintroduce and extend border controls for years now since 2015 mainly due to the big influx of persons seeking international protection and secondary movements.

Last month, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) agreed to start talks with the ministers of the European Union, on the revision of time limits and conditions for the introduction of temporary internal border checks within the Schengen Area.

The proposed amendments, among others, shorten the initial period for border checks for foreseeable events to two months, instead of six, as it is now. In addition, it asserts that internal border reintroduction should be decided as a measure of last resort.

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