Eastern EU States’ Migrant Policies Raise Questions Over Schengen Unity

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticized eastern EU member states for their policies toward migrants. Merkel said that if the European Union's member statees fail to redistribute migrants throughout the union, the future of the Schengen agreement will be called into question.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – Eastern EU member states’ policies toward migrants put in jeopardy the European unity and the future of the Schengen zone, German lawmaker Alexander Neu told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Hungary in particular has been widely criticized for construction of a 175-kilometer (108-mile) fence on the country’s southern border with Serbia.

“Reluctance to accept larger influx of refugees and economic migrants shows their one-sided understanding of the EU solidarity as they ready ‘to take’ but not ‘to give’ and puts in danger the EU unity and the Schengen zone,” Neu said.

Europe is experiencing a massive migration crisis, as thousands of people attempt to cross into the bloc, fleeing violence in their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Hungary is being used as a gateway to wealthier European Union countries by thousands of migrants. As a result, the country is experiencing an unprecedented influx of undocumented immigrants entering the country. Budapest estimates that some 150,000 migrants have entered the country since the beginning of 2015.