Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte considers the Schengen area to be at risk.

"We need a functioning Dublin system in order to be able to preserve Schengen in the long term," said Rutte in an interview with the FAZ and some other media in Brussels.

It still amazes him why someone who is picked up at the German-Dutch border has not been registered before.

According to the Dublin system for asylum in the European Union, this is the responsibility of the first Member State where a person seeking protection arrives.

Last year, 330,000 irregular border crossings were registered at the external borders of the EU, but the actual number is likely to have been much higher because around 800,000 applications for asylum were made in the member states at the same time.

Like Germany, the Netherlands are particularly affected

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Rutte said he had also urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whom he met on Tuesday, to revive the Schengen rules.

The issue of migration is at the heart of an extraordinary European Council on 9th and 10th February.

In an internal position paper, the government in The Hague calls on the EU Commission to report regularly on the implementation of the regulations, which also include the readmission of people who choose their country of asylum.

The paper also calls for additional funds to be used to secure the external borders.

"All types of fixed and mobile infrastructure should be part of a larger package of border security measures," it said.

Fixed infrastructure includes fences, which many member states want to see financed from the common EU budget.

When asked about this, however, Rutte was reluctant.

This requirement is controversial.

One could try to set up a "pilot project" in Bulgaria, he said.

Austria had recently demanded that Brussels support stronger border fortifications there with two billion euros.

In the end, you need unanimity in the European Council, said Rutte.

This is not easy to achieve.

That's why he's focusing on other issues, such as faster repatriation of rejected asylum seekers.

The EU interior ministers will discuss this in Stockholm this Thursday.