Tue, 01 Sep, 2015 01:41:42 AM FTimes-STT Report Sept 1  Passport control at Helsinki port. File Photo Lehtikuva. Finland is certainly not leading the pack in calling for the return of border checks in the Schengen area.
Demands for the restoration of border checks have increased due to the aggravation of the refugee crisis.
According to border security expert Ilkka Herranen, Europe’s refugee crisis is not enough reason for border controls to return to the Schengen countries.
“It does not pose a serious threat to internal security, which, according to the Schengen Border Code, would be the only reason to reintroduce [the border checks],” explained Herranen.
The Schengen countries have jointly agreed that border checks can be provisionally adopted if an exceptional situation threatens public order or national security. The decision for the return of border checks would be made politically at the EU level.
Among other things, Austria’s local media has reported the tightening of security along the eastern border. The purpose of the heightened surveillance is to examine cars, which can be used as hiding places for human trafficking victims.
Terrorist attacks in EU countries have also increased demands for improving the efficiency of Schengen area border management.
Finland’s Permanent Representative to the EU Matti Pitkänitty has noted that the maintenance of public order and security fall under the basic principles of the Schengen Code. The existing legislation provides the option to strengthen traffic inspection.
“But of course it is currently prevented from being systematic for all checks. The border guards do not automatically check every traveller.”
Discussion on the control of the Schengen area may partially include the rhetoric of internal politics, who seek to demonstrate that decision-makers are responding to terrorist attacks and the migrant crisis.
According to Pitkäniity, the problems are so complex that the tightening of border control is offered as a miracle cure-all.
“Restoration of border controls could have big consequences for our normal daily lives,” Pitkäniity said, pointing out that crossing internal borders is becoming an ordinary part of life for many EU citizens.
Finland has sought to highlight the fact that the threat assessments for the borders are diverse. For example, Finland’s eastern border is not subjected to the corresponding migratory pressures like the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans.
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