EU to extend Schengen border controls for three months

The EU moved Tuesday to prolong border controls in the passport-free Schengen area for three months, missing an end-of-year deadline to scrap the emergency measures adopted to cope with last year's massive migrant influx. The European Commission, the European Union executive arm, recommended continuing checks at the borders of Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and non-EU Norway for three months starting in November.
The EU had said it wanted to restore full functioning with no border controls across the Schengen area - which includes 22 EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein - by the end of the year. "We are working hard to return to a normal functioning Schengen area as soon as possible, and we have made significant progress," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a statement. "But we are not there yet," he said on the sidelines of a session of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg.