Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Schengen will not survive if the Dublin Regulation is not extended. His comments came as a result of the current migration situation, calling for an update to the rules for registering migrants at the EU’s external borders, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported, citing Rador.

Rutte’s comments came after a conversation with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer, emphasizing that the Dublin system allows migrants to be returned to the first country of entry into the European Union.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands called on the European Union to support the protection of the EU’s external borders and help Bulgaria ensure border security.

In addition, he noted that the current border controls between Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia show that the Schengen (system) is flawed.

At the same time, Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer expressed hope that the issue of migration will be assessed and conclusions drawn in this regard within the framework of the extraordinary EU summit, which will be held on February 9 and 10.

The problem of migrants trying to get to the EU countries by crossing the bloc’s external borders continues to be one of the most important problems for the authorities of the EU countries, which are constantly working to find an effective solution.

Earlier this month, the European Union presented a new proposal to return migrants who try to enter European countries illegally to their countries of origin.

The Commission’s recent plan aims to increase the number of returns.

“An efficient and common EU return system is a central pillar of well-functioning and robust migration and asylum systems, as well as a comprehensive New Deal approach to migration and asylum. An effective and common EU return system should also act as a deterrent to help reduce dangerous and irregular migration,” the Commission said in a statement.

The issue of border protection was the main reason that prompted the Austrian authorities to oppose the further expansion of the Schengen zone with Bulgaria and Romania.

In addition, the Austrian authorities recently offered to allocate 2 billion euros to improve the fences on the shared border between Bulgaria and Turkey.

However, such a proposal addressed to the European Commission was rejected by the latter after the Commission said it needed more money in the budget for such plans.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson said that if the European executive allocates money for such purposes, then there is no money left for other things.