New migration after EU relaxes border control

Michael Leidig
London Telegraph
Sunday January 6, 2007

Thousands of asylum seekers are on the move across Europe as a result of the relaxation of internal border controls.

A new system intended to make it easier for European Union citizens to move between member countries has led to a dramatic rise in illegal immigrants.

At the Traiskirchen refugee camp in Austria, numbers have more than doubled, from 300 to 770, since the rules were changed just before Christmas.

Many, travelling on foot, in vans and taxis, had started their journeys in the disputed Russian territory of Chechnya.

Elena Gairabeka and her five children walked across the border into Austria from the Czech Republic after initially leaving Russia and entering the EU through Poland.

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The group, which included a six-month-old baby, faced night-time temperatures of minus 20C during the journey.

Mrs Gairabeka said they made the trip to join up with her husband Muslim, who had entered Austria illegally five years earlier.

Mrs Gairabeka said they arrived in Poland by train but had been unable to continue their journey until the border rules changed on December 21.

The new rules mean that staff at the internal borders can no longer check passports.

The rules do not apply to Britain and Ireland, which are not part of the so-called Schengen zone.

Last month, The Sunday Telegraph exposed lax controls on the new eastern frontier and fears that many more illegal migrants would be able to enter the EU.

Full article here.

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