Wave of New EU Border Controls: Austria, Slovakia, Netherlands; Austria Dispatches Army to Border; Hungary Blames Greece

Border Controls in Austria, Slovakia, Netherlands

After twice upping the number of refugees it would accept, the German pot is overflowing.

12,000 arrived in Munich on Saturday alone. Germany was forced to institute border controls. It can no longer handle its safe-haven status.

In response to German controls, More EU Members Impose Emergency Border Controls.

A wave of EU member states imposed emergency border controls on Monday as fallout from the refugee crisis put the bloc’s free movement area under increasing strain.

Austria and Slovakia imposed tighter border checks on migrants, while The Netherlands also announced that police would carry out spot border checks.

The moves were a response to Germany’s clampdown on its own borders, which involved temporarily disrupting both rail and road routes from Austria and caused reverberations throughout Europe.

Germany’s reintroduction of border controls have stoked fears in Vienna that Austria will be overwhelmed by thousands of refugees trying to reach Germany.

Officials in Austria on Monday said the country’s decision to increase checks on refugees travelling from Hungary — including dispatching the army to the border — remained in line with Schengen rules on free movement across EU borders.

Migrant Sharing Plan Hits Rocks of Reality

Also consider EU Discord Over Migrant Sharing Plan.

EU efforts to agree a binding plan to share out 120,000 refugees fell apart after a minority of countries led by Czech Republic and Hungary objected to a heavily watered down proposal.

After six hours of argument, member states failed to reach unanimous agreement on the plan, although a majority — including France and Germany — supported the scheme.

Countries in favour of the plan will now try to force through a deal with a qualified majority at another meeting in October, setting the stage for a bitter diplomatic fight in the intervening period.

Although qualified majority votes are acceptable under EU law, they are rarely used to force through decisions on politically sensitive topics against vocal opposition.

Hungary was supposed to be one of the beneficiaries of the scheme but has opposed it, arguing that it is not a front-line country and that it has only suffered a huge influx of migrants because Greece has failed to manage its borders.

The Czech Republic also refused to sign up to the proposals, saying that it would oppose efforts to introduce an automatic relocation scheme. Romania and Slovakia were also against the scheme.

Britain, which has an opt-out, outlined its opposition to the plan originally put forward by the commission’s president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Plans to allow countries to duck out of the scheme in exchange for a fee were discussed for less than one minute, according to one diplomat.

Major Warning to Cameron

The UK has an "opt-out" on immigration but does it have one on the Financial Transaction Tax proposal? Even if the UK does have that opt-out, the next Prime Minister may give it away. And Labour supports the transaction tax.

There are numerous items that are not in the UK's best interest that it will have to accept sooner or later if it stays in the EU.

When this reality hits prime minister David Cameron is anyone's guess, but my best guess is never.

The best hope for the UK is for British voters to wake up to the reality that EU nannycrats will never give up on horrendous ideas, and therefore the UK is better off alone, just as Switzerland is.

Yes to Europe

Switzerland is not a member of the EU. The last "Yes to Europe " vote was in 2001. Swiss voters rejected joining the EU by 76.8%.

All the horrors attributed to the UK leaving the EU are clear falsehoods.

Quotas: Answer or Problem?

Curiously, although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, in a referendum on 5 June 2005, Swiss voters agreed, by a 55% majority, to join the Schengen Area.

Switzerland has since had second thoughts. Wikipedia explains:

"In February 2014, the Swiss voted in a referendum to introduce quotas for all migrants in Switzerland. Such a quota system would, if implemented, violate the agreement between Switzerland and the European Union on the free movement of persons, and require the renegotiation of the various bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union if they are to remain in force."

Germany now wants a quota system. Apparently, a quota system is now what's best for the EU, even though a quota system is not compatible with the Schengen Treaty!

Schengen is Dead

The Schengen Treaty is indeed dead. The treaty was ill-formed in the first place. It should not apply to places outside central Europe, nor should benefits vary so widely between member states.

In addition, entry concerns are a huge issue. The peripheral countries bear the front line costs as under the treaty, the initial country of entry needs to certify and register the migrants.

Some realistic measures as to who is a genuine political refugee vs. an economic refugee are in serious need of implementation.

The obvious problem with solely depending on a determination as to who is or is not an economic refugee is that such a determination can take years, and great expense, to prove.

Finally, if someone is really an economic refugee, do you take them for a year, then send them back to Syria or wherever, or is it better to close the borders in the first place?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock