Problematic border controls

The departure of the principle of open borders started in autumn 2015.
Following Hungary and other countries in Central and South-East Europe which
tightened their controls at the borders to other member states, in October 2015,
Germany and Austria established controls within the Schengen area. A few
weeks later and in early 2016, Sweden, Norway and Denmark followed suit.
The controls and the related barriers to the free movement of goods and
persons still exist today. In November 2017, after having essentially used the
six-month prolongation period three times, the aforementioned countries had
exhausted the legal options for maintaining the controls. But the Commission
consented to a further prolongation until May 2018, provided that the controls
are necessary to fight the threat of terrorism. Since November 2015, France has
enacted controls for this reason.

Whether it will be possible to maintain the controls thereafter – as demanded by
Austria and Germany, for example – is still not certain. In September 2017, the
Commission proposed that, if faced by the threat of terrorism, member states
should be allowed to carry out controls for up to three years. However, this should
be subject to restrictive requirements and thus constitute an option for exceptional
circumstances only.