国际英语新闻:Germany Suspends Participation in Schengen, Halts Trains

Last month after the thwarted attack on a train from Amsterdam to Paris, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called for review of the Schengen rules, urging the imposition of checks on passengers’ identity and luggage. Defenders of the system - mainly those who want greater EU integration - fear any step back from passport-free movement will undermine the whole project they support.

The pro-EU Economist magazine last month warned: “Schengen is among the most visible manifestations of European unity; its erosion would send a powerful signal.”

German police started to mount patrols at crossing points with Austria Sunday afternoon and German officials say checks may be launched on the country’s borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic said it would increase controls on its border with Austria.

Germany’s ad hoc Schengen suspension will serve as the backdrop for what analysts say is likely to be a fractious meeting Monday of EU interior ministers in Brussels, at which German and French officials will support a burden sharing proposal unveiled last week by Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president.

Under the Juncker plan, there would be a new compulsory system to redistribute 160,000 asylum-seekers between the EU’s 28 members allocated to each country on the basis of its size and wealth.

Central European members such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have criticized the scheme, saying they will not agree to it.

Hungary’s President Viktor Orbán told Germany Bild newspaper Sunday: “These migrants are not coming our way from war zones, but from camps in Syria’s neighbors. So these people are not fleeing danger and don’t need to be scared for their lives.”