Desperate migrants threaten EU’s Schengen treaty focus 04/28/2011

Desperate migrants threaten EU’s Schengen treaty

focus

04/28/2011
BRUSSELS — After battling to maintain a united front through the euro crisis, Europe faces a new threat of its unity unravelling as thousands of desperate migrants test the EU’s ground-breaking Schengen treaty.

First signed in 1985 as a giant step toward European integration, the treaty opening passport-free travel to 400 million people in 25 nations is in the line of fire as divided EU nations squabble over how to deal with a sudden influx of migrants from Africa, notably Tunisia and Libya.

The issue will dominate a summit Tuesday in Rome between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, ahead of new EU proposals on Schengen due to be released May 4.

Italy has complained loudly for weeks of being left alone to cope with the arrival of some 30,000 migrants from North Africa since early this year, some fleeing the conflict in Libya, the majority economic refugees from Tunisia..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110428com3.html