Merkel: Migrant Crisis Challenges Very Existence of Schengen Area

If the European Union does not manage to distribute the migrants, the existence of the Schengen agreement itself will be under threat, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Merkel said that the current crisis also challenged the idea of continuity and human rights in Europe.

“If we don't succeed in fair distribution of the refugees [within the European Union] then of course the issue of Schengen area will return to the agenda,” Merkel said, as quoted by the BBC.

The Schengen Agreement was signed on June 14, 1985, leading to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. Most EU member states, as well as four non-EU countries, are members of this area.

The European Union is currently facing a large-scale migrant crisis. Thousands of people are fleeing conflict-torn countries in North Africa and the Middle East to enter the EU member states. The bloc is trying to distribute migrants within the Union to alleviate the pressure on countries where the refugees are arriving.

According to the EU border agency Frontex, 340,000 migrants have arrived in the European Union countries since the beginning of 2015. According to the agency’s data, the amount of migrants has almost tripled compared to the same period in 2014.