Border security

European Border Crisis: State Of Emergency Declared, Border Controls Reintroduced

The European Schengen Agreement is again under scrutiny after countries have begun implementing border controls, effectively pausing Schengen.

The Schengen Agreement – which enables passport-free movement – can be temporarily paused in emergency situations, which is exactly what Europe is facing right now as a result of the migrant crisis.

More than 500,000 migrants were detected at EU external borders in the first eight months of this year after a fifth consecutive monthly record was registered in August when 156,000 crossed the EU borders. By comparison, in 2014, there were 280,000 detections at EU borders.

The Greek islands again saw the biggest number of detections in August at 88,000, an 11-fold increase compared to the same month last year. Nearly three-quarters of the people arriving from Turkey were Syrians.