Étienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy and Minister of Internal Security, attended the annual meeting of interior ministers of German-speaking countries in Europe on Tuesday 5 April 2016, in Vienna.
This year the meeting was held at the invitation of Austria's Federal Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner and the ministerial representatives from Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland were all present.
The discussions were centred around the issues of security and migration. Minister Schneider stressed the need for higher utilisation of the many already existing EU-instruments that are available in the area of their joint efforts in the fight against terrorism and to curb extremism.
The Ministers also discussed the refugee crisis with regards to the EU - Turkey agreement on refugees, as well as the current refugee routes and the future of the Schengen area. Minister Schneider stressed that the Schengen agreement is one of the EU's largest and most important achievements and as such must be preserved by all means, and that this is to ensure the protection of external borders.
Photo by: BMI/Alexander TUMA. (L-R): Thomas Zwiefelhofer (Liechtenstein) ; Johanna Mikl-Leitner (Österreich) ; Simonetta Sommaruga (Schweiz) ; Thomas de Maizière (Deutschland) ; Étienne Schneider (Luxemburg)
