[...] cross-border traffic could soon suffer, as the European Union considers re-introducing border controls for up to two years between some of the 26 nations in the Schengen passport-free area to deal with the migrant crisis. With locals' vineyards situated both in Germany and France just a few minutes' walk away, residents of his "little town of wine-makers" are more conscious than most of the agreement's advantages, says Homan. Since the signing, thousands of businesses big and small have flourished on the guarantee of free travel. EU statistics show people making 1.3 billion crossings over the union's internal borders each year, while 57 million trucks transport goods worth hundreds of billions over those same boundaries annually. Cities such as Malmo in southern Sweden and the Danish capital Copenhagen have in effect fused, reflecting how the EU has turned from a community of nations separated by borders to one of regions. [...] policymakers are poised to invoke an emergency provision that allows for an extension of such controls for up to two years, citing Greek problems in properly protecting the bloc's external borders from the flow of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia or Africa. Under such a scenario, a French government study sees an 8-percent reduction in economic activity in the zone over the next decade amounting to 110 billion euros— nearly $124 billion Alexander Klacska, whose Austrian company runs more than 500 tanker trucks across Europe, cites a study based on three hours of waiting time for trucks a day on Austria's borders to and from its seven neighbors.
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