MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Merkel said that the current crisis also challenged the idea of continuity and human rights in Europe.
“If we don't succeed in fair distribution of the refugees [within the European Union] then of course the issue of Schengen area will return to the agenda,” Merkel said, as quoted by the BBC.
The Schengen Agreement was signed on June 14, 1985, leading to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. Most EU member states, as well as four non-EU countries, are members of this area.
According to the EU border agency Frontex, 340,000 migrants have arrived in the European Union countries since the beginning of 2015. According to the agency’s data, the amount of migrants has almost tripled compared to the same period in 2014.