Brussels Confirms Return of Border Checks under No-deal Brexit

THE GUARDIAN: British travellers will need to get passport stamped and may be asked about purpose of visit

British travellers will get a stamp in their passport every time they enter and leave the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the European commission has confirmed.

The announcement on border checks was revealed days after the British government secured a short extension that shifts the Brexit deadline to 12 April.

“The risk of a no-deal scenario is becoming increasingly likely,” an EU official said. The EU’s Brexit no-deal plans “cannot replicate the benefits of being an EU member” and were not “mini-deals or a negotiated no deal”, but unilateral measures to avoid disruption for the EU side, the official said.

In an information notice, the commission confirmed that in the event of a no-deal UK nationals would have the right to visa-free travel for short stays in the EU (90 days in any 180-day period), if the UK grants the same arrangement to citizens of all EU member states. “Your passport will be stamped both when you enter the EU and when you leave it, so that this period of 90 days, which is visa-free, can be calculated.”

British travellers would also lose access to the EU lane at border crossings, meaning longer queues.

In another return to the past, British travellers may be asked by border guards to provide information on the purpose of their visit and means of subsistence during their stay. Luggage would be subject to customs checks. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Monday, March 25, 2019

‘Mini Schengen’? 5 European Countries Seek Stricter Border Control

European leaders are now in Brussels to discuss tighter border controls....It's likely they'll be eager to introduce more radical security measures in light of recent terror attacks. In the context of the severe terrorist crisis, we want provisions made to strengthen border controls. This should include the considerable reinforcement of the EU's external borders.

German Border Controls Mark Sudden Shift in Refugee Policy

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Germany announces emergency border protections after weeks of leading Europe's response to the migrant crisis

Germany’s announcement on Sunday that it was instituting emergency border protections marks a sudden shift in its response to the refugee crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was hailed as a saviour after her government said last month it expected to take in 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers this year alone.

Germany also became the EU first country to suspend the so-called Dublin protocol, which mandates that refugees seek asylum in the first European country they enter, by declaring last month that all Syrian refugees could remain in Germany regardless of the country through which they entered.

That decision was taken in light of the harsh treatment of asylum seekers in Hungary, which plans to complete a four-metre-high fence along its border with Serbia this week. » | David Lawler | Sunday, September 13, 2015

Scottish Independence: EU May Force Border Terms

THE SCOTSMAN: SCOTLAND will be required to join a Europe-wide free travel zone as a condition of European Union membership, in a move which could force Ireland and England to do likewise, a new paper claims.

A report by Strathclyde University academic Professor Robert Wright argues European Union nations would insist Scotland joined the Schengen area, the passport-free zone which covers almost all of the EU.

As the UK and Ireland are not part of Schengen, Scotland would therefore no longer be part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) within the British Isles, raising the prospect of checkpoints and patrols at the Scotland- England border, he adds.

However, Prof Wright says that in this scenario, Ireland would be likely to follow suit and join Scotland in the Schengen area. That would leave the rump UK as the only EU nation outside the EU-wide free travel zone, putting it under “considerable pressure” to join, he says. » | Eddie Barnes | Thursday, October 31, 2013

Denmark Tightens Border Controls
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Denmark has tightened its border controls in a move which opponents claim could sound the death knell for the EU’s principle of free movement.

The Scandinavian country deployed an extra 50 customs officers at crossings on the German and Swedish borders in an attempt to curb cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

This figure will rise to 98 by the end of the year.

Denmark, which belongs to the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone, also plans to increase video surveillance at crossings and build four new customs houses.

Denmark’s decision to become the first country to break ranks with its Schengen peers has sparked concern for the future of unrestricted travel between EU countries.

The principle of open borders is already threatened by political pressures created by the influx of refugees fleeing the turmoil in North Africa. » | Matthew Day | Tuesday, July 05, 2011

UK Fears Migrant Influx as EU Bids to Break Down Border Controls

MAIL ONLINE: Brussels bosses want to tear up European Union immigration rules, leaving Britain vulnerable to a new influx of migrants.

The European Commission plans to use human rights laws to break down border controls.

David Cameron will today go into battle to face down plans to scrap the existing rule that means illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are supposed to be sent back to the country where they first enter the EU.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will use a summit in Brussels today to press for the changes.

He wants the rule suspended indefinitely, opening the door to thousands of immigrants heading for Britain to claim more generous benefits than they could get elsewhere.

British officials fear that suspending the rule will mean that countries on the edge of Europe make far less effort to police their borders, since they will not have to face the consequences themselves of letting in too many migrants.

The situation has been made more acute by the fighting in Libya, which has seen thousands of refugees fleeing Colonel Gaddafi’s regime to take shelter in the EU.

More than one million people have fled Libya since the conflict began. » | Tim Shipman | Thursday, June 23, 2011

Danish Police Search for 'Outsiders'
European Union Ministers are discussing new measures which could restrict people's movement across the continent. Much of the debate has been prompted by an influx of migrants from North Africa.

Denmark's Defiance over Frontier Controls Has Left European Union Bordering on Crisis
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Will Denmark reinstating border controls help to stop crime, or will it be a first stop on the road to dismantling the EU?

For 50 years as he kept watch over Denmark's border with Germany, Carl Jorgensen knew all about frontier problems. The former border guard tracked down drug dealers with his sniffer dog, cycled every inch of the boundary, and stopped hundreds of trouble-makers from entering his country with dubious intentions.

But the latest struggle for control over Denmark's frontier is not being waged on these flat farmlands of northern Europe, which Mr Jorgensen and his fellow border guards once policed.

Instead, it is being fought in the offices and chambers of Brussels, asDenmark takes on the European Union in a bitter row over the right to police its borders.

Last week Denmark announced that it was resuming checks along its frontiers with Germany and Sweden - having suspended them in 2001 when it joined the Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel throughout 22 of the EU's 27 member states, plus four others.

The Danish government says the resumption of border checks is needed to help prevent cross-border crime, illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Soren Pind, Denmark's integration minister, said that the EU needed a frank discussion about the "dark side" of open frontiers.

Copenhagen warned that, within the next three weeks, it will rebuild border stations; employ more customs officials; begin extensive video surveillance of cars crossing Danish borders; and make rapid police assistance available if the customs officers need them.

"We are trying our best to take measures that will secure the best aspects of freedom of movement, and at the same time, not let criminal activity pass through freely," said Mr Pind. » | Harriet Alexander, Tonder, southern Denmark | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Europe Moves to End Passport-free Travel in Migrant Row
THE GUARDIAN: European interior ministers agree to 'radical revision' of Schengen amid fears of a flood of migrants from north Africa

European nations moved to reverse decades of unfettered travel across the continent when a majority of EU governments agreed the need to reinstate national passport controls amid fears of a flood of immigrants fleeing the upheaval in north Africa.

In a serious blow to one of the cornerstones of a united, integrated Europe, EU interior ministers embarked on a radical revision of the passport-free travel regime known as the Schengen system to allow the 26 participating governments to restore border controls.

They also agreed to combat immigration by pressing for "readmission accords" with countries in the Middle East and north Africa to send refugees back to where they came from. » | Ian Traynor | Thursday, May 12, 2011

Verbunden »

THE GUARDIAN: EU warns Denmark over border controls: José Manuel Barroso says he doubts whether Denmark is complying with European and international law » | Ian Traynor in Brussels | Friday May 13, 2011

EU Considers Reinstating National Border Controls
THE GUARDIAN: In response to intense pressure from France and Italy, European Commission to unveil new proposals on Wednesday

Brussels said on Sunday that national passport controls might be reintroduced across Europe to allow the "temporary" re-erection of borders between 25 countries.

Responding to intense pressure from Italy and France to tighten the no-borders system known as the Schengen regime, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, said he was looking at ways of satisfying the two countries' concerns. Paris and Rome are alarmed at an influx of migrants fleeing revolutionary north Africa.

In a letter to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Barroso said that the commission would unveil new proposals on Wednesday on immigration policy, common European asylum procedures, and reform of the Schengen system.

The commission's proposals are to go to a summit of EU leaders next month, with France and Italy leading the charge for a partial renationalisation of border controls, a trend the commission would like to resist but looks too weak to counter.

The Franco-Italian push to place greater restrictions on the Schengen regime, launched last week after a furious row between Paris and Rome over refugees from Tunisia, has already won support from a handful of other EU countries, including Germany. » | Ian Traynor in Brussels | Sunday, May 01, 2011

Immigration: France and Italy to Propose European Border Reform
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France and Italy will on Tuesday present Brussels with an ultimatum to tear up the free travel European border rules that has been the EU's signature accomplishment for 16 years.

Nicolas Sarkozy is holding emergency talks in Rome with Silvio Berlusconi after a row over Tunisian refugees threatened to spiral out of control and lead to the reintroduction of French border controls.

The Italian prime minister called the meeting after his decision to give more than 25,000 Tunisian refugees residence permits caused the worst border crisis since the EU's 1995 Schengen Treaty.

The French president, who will face a challenge from the anti-immigrant far-Right during elections next year, has responded furiously and criticised "flawed" EU rules that have let the migrants into France. The French sparked a major diplomatic incident last week after closing the rail border with Italy at Ventimiglia, citing risks of disturbances to public order to refuse entry to trains carrying Tunisian migrants.

France has accused Italy of violating the EU's "Schengen" free movement rules by giving the Arab migrants, who are mainly French-speaking, permits and encouraging them to travel to France.

Periodic border checks with Italy have been reinstated and several hundred Tunisians, bearing the residence permits, have been sent back to Italy. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Monday, April 25, 2011

Barack Obama Has Bowed Before the UN Over Arizona Immigration Law
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – NILE GARDINER: There can be few sights more humiliating for the American people than that of a US president kowtowing to a foreign leader or to supranational institutions. Continental Europeans are used to this sort of thing after decades of dominance by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, and have grudgingly accepted over time the gradual and undemocratic erosion of their freedoms. But most Americans fiercely defend their national sovereignty, and find the idea of giving international organisations a say over their laws and lives completely unacceptable.

The Obama administration however has submitted a report to the UN Commissioner on Human Rights, South African judge Navanethem Pillay, which makes direct reference to a popular Arizona immigration law aimed at tackling illegal immigration, which is fiercely opposed by the White House, and is the subject of legal action by the Justice Department. The report references

A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, (which) has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined.

The highly controversial reference to the Arizona law serves only one purpose – to gain UN and international support for the Obama administration’s position in the face of mounting opposition from Arizona legislators and a majority of the American people. A recent Rasmussen poll showed 61 percent of Americans backing Arizona-style laws for their own states, and just 28 percent supporting a Justice Department challenge.

By doing so, Obama officials undoubtedly hope to stir up international condemnation of the Arizona policy in advance of the UN General Assembly meetings in September, which they believe will increase pressure on Arizona to back down. It is a highly cynical move that speaks volumes about the Obama team’s willingness to undercut American sovereignty and popular will on the world stage. Continue reading and comment >>> Nile Gardiner | Tuesday, August 31, 2010

State Department Defends Human Rights Report
FOX NEWS: P.J. Crowley on why Arizona immigration law was singled out in new report to U.N. commission singles out

Photo: Fox News
Lawmaker Warns Parks Takeover by Mexican Cartels, Illegals 'Intensifying'
FOX NEWS: Federal environmental laws are handcuffing U.S. Border Patrol agents to a foot-and-horseback strategy as they try to battle Mexican drug cartels and illegal immigrants who are turning wide swaths of America's border with Mexico into a virtual no-man's land.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, ranking Republican on the House Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee, said the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona -- part of which was closed in 2006 because it was considered too dangerous for Americans to visit -- is just the tip of the iceberg.

He said there's plenty of other parkland along the border that's either closed to the public or is considered too dangerous because of concern about drug gangs, human smugglers and illegal immigrants, and that the problem is getting worse.

"You travel here in America at your own risk," Bishop told FoxNews.com. >>> FoxNews | Thursday, June 17, 2010

EU Sans Frontières
BBC: The European Union has decided to scrap border controls with nine of its newest members from next month.

People will be able to move freely across Europe from Portugal to Estonia.

The Schengen free travel area will include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta.

The nine countries joined the EU in 2004. EU ministers will confirm the decision next month, after consulting the European Parliament.

At one minute past midnight on 21 December passport checks will be scrapped at land and sea borders across much of eastern Europe.

It is a Christmas present for millions of people from the former communist bloc, who had long complained they did not enjoy full freedom to travel, despite being part of the EU.

They will still have to show their passports at airports in most of continental Europe, but only until March.

Criminals too will be able to travel freely from the Baltics to the English Channel. EU's border-free zone to expand (more) By Oana Lungescu

Mark Alexander