Finnish Minister: Schengen free movement may be at risk

Interior Minister Petteri Orpo says that following terrorist attacks in Paris over the weekend, the free movement guaranteed in the Schengen area agreement may come under pressure in the weeks ahead.

                          

In an interview with Yle Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said that following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last weekend, the freedom of movement principle of the Schengen area could be in danger in the coming weeks.

"As we have been unable to seal the outer border, particularly in Turkey, and we have not set up so-called hotspots in Greece, it means that there will continue to be tens or hundreds of thousands of people coming into Europe, and they are not being registered. We don’t know who they are and where they want to go," Orpo explained.

Orpo used the term "hotspots" to refer to a European Union initiative to screen and fingerprint migrants and refugees arriving in Italy and Greece. The system is central to moving forward with plans to relocate some 160,000 asylum seekers from these locations to other EU states.

Orpo noted that the situation looked bad and added that in his view the fate of the Schengen area would be determined in a matter of weeks rather than months.

YLE FINLAND