A dramatic extension of European security controls, with mandatory fingerprinting of foreigners whose documents are incomplete, is being hurried into place in response to the arrival of some 1,200 Kurdish refugees. Civil liberties groups warn that "a hyped-up moral panic" is being used as an excuse to rush into force a draconian system, with trans-European data bases and wide authority for police to make arrests and engage in hot pursuit across national borders, and with little provision for legal appeal or democratic accountability.
The Kurdish crisis has already begun a process of forcing countries with liberal asylum regimes, such as Italy, to conform to the much tighter rules of other EU countries, such as Germany. Under the new system, a Kurdish refugee who lacks either Iraqi or Turkish papers or an EU visa, could face instant fingerprinting, detention and deportation without a chance to appeal.
In one case which has aroused concern in the German press, a Kurdish refugee was taken back to Turkey by German police, to be instantly arrested, tortured and sentenced to prison for having documents from the PKK Kurdish separatist group.
"Illegal" migrants to Germany are now also charged between DM 63 and DM 122 per hour (between £21 and £39.60) for the police time spent on them, the money being applied to the border police budget.
Italy this week, under pressure from Germany, Austria and France, agreed to abolish its 15day grace period before a refugee who is denied admission must leave the country, and now seems resigned to building detention centres in which to hold refugees pending deportation.
The dark side of the Schengen agreement, under which Europe's internal borders and passport controls are being scrapped, is now coming to the fore. The Kurdish problem has put the focus on the parallel security and control measures which accompanied the border liberalisation plan.
The only measure of democratic accountability within the Schengen system, a joint control board made up of parliamentarians from Schengen countries, has itself complained that it is not being given the information to fulfill its duty. Control board members have complained to the Danish parliament that they were refused access to the Schengen control centre in Strasbourg.
While refusing to join the Schengen system of open borders between EU countries, Britain has said it wants to join the Schengen Information System. This is a data base which contains some 8 million names of criminals, suspected terrorists and drug smugglers, as well as illegal migrants.
"A system is falling into place which allows no right of appeal for someone refused asylum, nor the opportunity to get legal advice, and in which there are no clear mechanisms for complaint or legal process," warned Mr Tony Bunyan of Statewatch, which monitors civil liberties across Europe.
Amnesty International and the UN High Commission for refugees have voiced concern at the much tougher asylum system that is emerging in Europe, complaining that the EU's protocal on asylum for EU citizens is "a clear violation of the Geneva Convention on Refugees". The protocol defines all EU states as "safe countries", meaning that any asylum application by an EU citizen will be automatically rejected by another EU country as manifestly unfounded.
The Schengen Executive Committee has approved a series of urgent measures designed to tighten controls at all EU external borders. These include fingerprinting all foreigners whose identity cannot be established with certainty on the basis of valid documents, and sharing the fingerprints and details with all EU police forces as soon as technical systems permit.
The committee has also agreed that member-states should "prevent foreign nationals having entered illegally onto the Schengen territory . . . from disappearing into clandestinity". This means some kind of detention system, and EU officials said this week that funds could be made available for "refugee reception centres".