Germany, Austria say emergency border controls must stay

Germany and Austria said on Thursday emergency border checks imposed within Europe's free-travel zone during the migrant crisis must be extended beyond the mid-November deadline.

In a blow to European integration, the European Union partly suspended the so-called Schengen free travel zone last year as countries struggled with a chaotic influx of about 1.3 million people, most of whom trekked from Greece to Germany after crossing the sea to flee conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

"The current system allowing border controls ends in mid-November. I favour that we can extend this," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on arriving for talks with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

"It is right we should extend the possibility of border controls on a European basis and we will discuss that on the sidelines today."

Germany, Sweden, Norway,...