Projected mobile fence along the Hungarian-Slovenian border

1.10.2015

Question for written answer P-013408-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Csaba Molnár (S&D)

On 24 September, János Lázár, Minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, announced that the Hungarian authorities were embarking on the construction of a barbed-wire fence along the Slovenian-Hungarian border as a way of resolving the refugee situation. The Hungarian government gave neither the Slovenian authorities nor the Commission advance warning of the fact that a Member State was erecting a barbed wire fence along the border with another Schengen-area Member State. This flies in the face of Article 20 of the Schengen Borders Code, which states that ‘Internal borders may be crossed at any point without a border check on persons, irrespective of their nationality, being carried out’. The Hungarian authorities started erecting the fence along the Slovenian-Hungarian border on 24-25 September. On 25 September Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, announced that the fence was in violation of the Schengen regulations and would therefore be removed, and that mobile barriers would be installed in its place. In a similar vein, the Slovak government recently announced that it was planning to erect mobile barriers along the Slovak-Hungarian border to deal with the refugee crisis.

— In the Commission's view, is the existence of mobile barriers between two Schengen-area Member States compatible with the provisions of the Schengen Borders Code and in particular with Article 20 thereof?

— In the Commission's view, are the projected mobile barriers along the Hungarian-Slovenian and Hungarian-Slovak borders compatible with the spirit of a barrier-free Europe and the relevant EU regulations?

— If the Commission considers that there is indeed a violation of EC law here, what action does it intend to take in order to bring it to an end?