MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Dublin Regulation, signed by all EU members, stipulates that the first EU member country entered refugees is responsible for processing their asylum application. After the migration crisis escalated, some EU countries called for the system to be amended as it leads to a disproportionate amount of migrants in peripheral EU member states that cannot handle the influx.
"The Dublin system at the moment is not working. So before we kill Schengen, we have to make Dublin work and reform the Dublin system," Rutte said at a panel session of the 46th annual World Economic Forum, currently underway in the Swiss town of Davos.
The Schengen Agreement removes internal borders in the European Union, enabling passport-free movement between the parties to the treaty. The agreement provides for internal borders to be temporarily closed in the event of a threat to national security.
Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.55 million illegal border crossings in 2015.
