Austria wants to change Schengen border rules

Austrian ministers said Thursday that they want to change the rules governing Europe's passport-free Schengen zone so they can extend border controls that expire later this year.


The comments came after Brussels on Tuesday said that checks introduced at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis by Austria and four other countries must end by November.

"If the European Commission is now saying that another extension of the national border controls beyond November is not possible because of legal reasons, then we need jointly to adapt the law to ensure that additional controls are necessary," Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil told the Austria Press Agency.

"If border controls are necessary because the number of illegal migrants rises again then we shouldn't hide behind bureaucratic rules but make border controls possible," Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz added on Oe1 public radio.
  [dailystar.com.lb/AFP]
4/5/17