- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Let's Reform Dublin System 'Before We Kill Schengen' - Dutch PM

© AFP 2023 / ARIE KIEVIT / ANP Refugees queue as they arrive at the vacation park Droomgaard in Kaatsheuvel, on January 6, 2016
Refugees queue as they arrive at the vacation park Droomgaard in Kaatsheuvel, on January 6, 2016 - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The European Union member nations should reform the Dublin system in order to save the Schengen Agreement, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Dublin Regulation, signed by all EU members, stipulates that the first EU member country entered refugees is responsible for processing their asylum application. After the migration crisis escalated, some EU countries called for the system to be amended as it leads to a disproportionate amount of migrants in peripheral EU member states that cannot handle the influx.

"The Dublin system at the moment is not working. So before we kill Schengen, we have to make Dublin work and reform the Dublin system," Rutte said at a panel session of the 46th annual World Economic Forum, currently underway in the Swiss town of Davos.

An anti-Schengen poster in Germany - Sputnik International
United We Don’t Stand: Restricting Schengen Area Threatens Fabric of EU
He stressed that "nobody wants to get rid of Schengen" and it could be saved "as long as we get a grip in the next six to eight weeks."

The Schengen Agreement removes internal borders in the European Union, enabling passport-free movement between the parties to the treaty. The agreement provides for internal borders to be temporarily closed in the event of a threat to national security.

Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.55 million illegal border crossings in 2015.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала