Saturday 21 April 2012

Times they are a changin´ - Germany and France want to reintroduce border controls



These "border controls" are not anymore good enough  for  the  Germans

We now read about a joint proposal by Germany and France to allow Schengen-zone countries to temporarily reintroduce border controls:


Germany and France are serious this time. During next week's meeting of European Union interior ministers, the two countries plan to start a discussion about reintroducing national border controls within the Schengen zone. According to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and his French counterpart, Claude Guéant, have formulated a letter to their colleagues in which they call for governments to once again be allowed to control their borders as "an ultima ratio" -- that is, measure of last resort -- "and for a limited period of time."

You may remember what happened in June last year, when the Danish government wanted to introduce some kind of (lawful) border controls:

German Foreign Ministry official Warner Hoyer fretted about countries “playing with the fire of nationalism.” 

The German ambassador to Denmark also joined in the fray, strongly criticizing the Danes and earning a strong rebuke from right-wing politicians.

"Denmark is aware of our criticism on their plan," said German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich while attending talks with European Union Counterparts on Thursday. 

"We do not want to initiate a conflict with Denmark, but we will ask clear questions," he said. "We cannot accept that Schengen be undermined."




Well, the least one can say is that, The Times They Are a-Changin'! 

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