After Austria’s recent request to extend its border checks with bordering Schengen states Hungary and Slovenia, a high-ranking European Commission official called out such requests, adding that government migration statistics do not reflect reality.
Earlier this month, the Austrian government announced it would apply to the European Commission to extend border controls with Hungary and Slovenia for another six months to “put on the asylum brakes and prevent asylum abuse.”
But border checks within the Schengen Area of 26 countries that abolished their internal borders are a “thorn in our side” for the EU executive and “simply should not exist,” a high-ranking Commission official said on Thursday.
“Currently, we have the situation that border checks are extended time and time again with the justification of internal security and migration,” the official said, adding that border checks were the “elephant in the room.”
Ending this situation as quickly as possible by creating a more effective EU asylum system is one of the reasons the Commission is pushing to swiftly conclude the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum currently being discussed between the European Parliament and Council, according to the official.
The official also pointed to the fact that the number of migrants Austria actually receives is lower than what some of the migration statistics often cited by the government suggest.
“Austria is a classic transit country: It sees a high number of asylum requests, but many of them depart again very quickly and go on to work in Germany,” the official said.
(Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
