Germany temporarily left the Schengen Agreement
In the federal state of Bavaria, police officers from all over the country are serving these days; the task of units transferred to the south of Germany is to ensure border control, primarily with Austria, through which the main flow of refugees to northern Europe passes. Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière emphasized that Germany will not be able to comply with the conditions of the Schengen Agreement on the abolition of border controls only temporarily. According to the head of the German Foreign Ministry, Germany is not abandoning its assumed 'humanitarian responsibility' regarding refugees, and will continue to adhere to current European law. 'Russkaya Germaniya' attempted to understand how these promises of the minister relate to the closure of borders.
Does Germany have the right to leave the Schengen Agreement?
The last time such security measures had to be taken was in June of this year during the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, earlier in the summer of 2006 during the World Cup.
Signed 30 years ago on a ship drifting in the upper reaches of the Moselle River near the Luxembourgish village of Schengen, the treaty allows member states to return to border controls in exceptional cases. This radical measure is introduced for a limited time in the event of a serious threat to public order or internal security of the states that signed the Schengen Agreement. As of today, there are 26 countries: 22 representatives of the European Union (without the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia), as well as non-EU Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
Signatories to the treaty can temporarily close borders for up to 30 days, having previously informed the European Commission. Its 30-day permit can be extended multiple times – for a total period of up to six months. Periodic selective checks at the border, aimed at combating crime, are possible at any time, regardless of the European Commission's consent to general controls. In addition, the text of the Schengen Agreement gives its participants the right to conduct 'systematic control for a certain period in the event of a serious threat' – and in such an emergency, states are not obliged to inform anyone in advance about the return to the practice of checking documents at the border.
In 2013, in anticipation of a flow of refugees into Europe, Schengen members agreed that this 'certain period' would be two years. Thus, Germany is not violating the agreement with European partners by introducing border controls.
How will the control be carried out?
The decision taken last Sunday forces the federal police to prepare for border controls to be carried out for a long time. 'After a short preparation phase, we expect a long period of checks,' say representatives of the federal police headquarters in Potsdam, who have sent hundreds of subordinates to the German-Austrian border area. In the first hours after the return to the practice of passport checks on border autobahns and federal highways, multi-kilometer queues formed, long forgotten by Europeans who freely travel from one state to another. The start of controls is also associated with the first local police success: in Freilassing, a smuggler engaged in trafficking illegal immigrants was detained, accompanied by eight Syrian citizens.
Checks are carried out not only at road border crossings but also on the railway: on the night from Sunday to Monday, train traffic between Austria and Germany was completely stopped; later, railway workers were able to return to the usual schedule.
What happens to refugees at the border?
Refugees detained during checks at the German border who have a passport can apply for political asylum in Germany. The Syrians stopped at the border were sent to Bavarian facilities for initial reception – the same ones that receive refugees already on the country's territory. The interior ministers of the EU states are discussing the issue of fair distribution of refugees among EU members at an urgently convened summit in Brussels. If certain agreements are reached in the capital of Belgium, some of the persons held in German refugee camps may be redirected to other states.
Schengen vs. Dublin
The Dublin Agreement, signed in 1990 and entered into force on September 1, 1997, determines the procedure for granting political asylum in EU countries: refugees can apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter. 'Germany, under the Dublin Agreement, is not responsible for the majority of refugees it accepts,' emphasizes Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, once again calling on all European states to comply with the treaty.
The Schengen Agreement does not apply to persons applying for political asylum. Refugees arrive in Germany using the openness of European borders. Catastrophic conditions in Italy and Greece, which are unable to accept hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and violence across the Mediterranean, from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, force them to move on – to Germany, to the west and north of Europe. Due to the refugee problem, France is returning to the practice of border controls on the border with Italy, Denmark – on the border with Germany.
Against the backdrop of the current crisis, the Dublin Agreement comes into direct conflict with the Schengen Agreement, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warns: 'Schengen is in danger if the EU member states do not jointly and quickly agree on ways to resolve the crisis.'