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All quiet across borders one month after Schengen
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All quiet across borders one month after Schengen
Fears that hordes of illegal immigrants would pour into the European Union once border controls for nine mostly Eastern European nations were abolished a month ago appear, at least for now, to have been unfounded.
Governments in Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic surveyed by Reuters said there was no evidence of a rise in either illegal immigration or crime since the EU?s Schengen zone was enlarged on Dec. 21 ? although the EU?s own border agency says it is too early to draw conclusions.
?There?s been no new mass migration detected and the situation on a whole has been rather quiet,? said Gabriele Hermani, a German Interior Ministry spokeswoman. She said there had been no notable increase in illegal immigration or crime. ?We?re confident the reorganised federal police force (ex border patrol) will master the challenges.?
Some 6,000 police operate in mobile patrols in a 30-km wide strip at the German frontier, randomly checking one in 2,000 vehicles. The extension of the Schengen zone on Dec. 21 to nine more nations created an area of passport-free travel of 24 countries spread over 4,000 km from Estonia to Portugal.
The enlargement brought in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. It is expected to boost business and tourism but brought accompanying fears of increased people-trafficking and crime.
In Germany, where tabloid media and a police union fanned fears, the Interior Ministry said 564, mostly from Chechnya, were caught between Dec. 21 and Jan. 13. and sent back to Poland. It said many of those caught had applied previously for asylum in Poland and had not entered the EU after Dec. 21.
Austria, Poland, Czech Republic see no change</B>
German police unions said only a fraction of illegal immigrants were caught, warning the true number is far higher. But Interior Ministry officials said the numbers, which rose briefly in the final week of 2007, are similar to before enlargement. They said the fact that illegal immigrants were caught showed the system works.
The issue has also stirred emotions in Austria. Tabloid newspapers raised worries of a massive increase in illegal migrants and asylum-seekers but broadsheet dailies, public television and other media called the fears groundless.
Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter said he felt the debate had been hijacked for partisan politics. ?You have to take the public?s fears very, very seriously,? Platter told journalists. ?It?s obviously a different situation when the border controls suddenly disappear. But I don?t see more seeking asylum ... and I don?t see an increase in crime.?
Figures from Poland?s border agency headquarters show the number of illegal immigrants stopped on EU frontiers under Polish jurisdiction ? with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine ? was down nearly 50 percent in the first three weeks after Dec. 21.
?Too little time has passed to identify any particular trends,? said Michal Parzyszek, a spokesman for the EU?s external borders watchdog FRONTEX. ?My guess would be that if any surge has occurred, it would be between the nine new Schengen states and previous members. Some immigrants could have been hiding in Poland before Dec. 21 and are now trying to get to other parts of the EU.?
In Prague, police said that there had been no extraordinary changes since joining Schengen. Czech officials did say, however, they had intercepted a number of illegal immigrants from Chechnya. They were caught trying to travel from Poland to Austria via the Czech Republic.
In Brussels, the European Commission said the expansion of the Schengen zone was working fine so far. Commission spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said, however, it was too early to tell if there had been any increases in illegal immigration.
<B>Erik KIRSCHBAUM</B>
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