UN special envoy warns Europe of endangering Schengen treaty

(Vatican Radio)  Retiring behind borders is a fool’s paradise, says the UN Secretary General’s Special representative on migration and development.

Listen to Peter Kenny's report:

Peter Sutherland said in Geneva that all countries have a responsibility including the Middle East in solving the current refugee crisis.

Sutherland said there should be a common European response as part of a global response.

If they aren’t joined up, the response will fail to ameliorate a position which is not going to go away, but which can be greatly improved.

Sutherland noted there need to be structures in place. He said for example the assessment of whether or not a person is a refugees has widely differing results in different countries. He also said there needs to be a system where refugees are dealt with humanly.

Europe is a dying continent that needs people while Germany has the lowest birth rate in the world and there is actually a huge demand for people in Europe.

He warned that a failure to hammer out a common European police on refugees will endanger the Shengen treaty that allows people to move around the EU freely.

Sutherland said, "Shengen most definitely could fall apart and probably will fall part if we don’t get a common European policy in respect of migration.

"Shengen is under threat -  one of the great achievements of the EU and one of most beneficial aspects of public policy to the very states who are refusing to be part of a common European police, particularly in central and eastern Europe.

"I find it quite incredible that there is a failure to recognise that retiring behind borders in Europe is a fool’s paradise. It can provide no answers to the migrations crisis." 

Sullivan said that if the Shengen treaty fails those who allow that it to do so will see its effects. The EU would survive but it would be severely weakened.