EU Commission backs border checks for 5 Schengen nations

In this Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017 photo, a Syrian refugee woman cuts vegetables while her husband checks his mobile phone at their tent in Kalochori refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) (The Associated Press)

In this Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee Ahmed Mohammed, 40, cooks outside his tent in Kalochori refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) (The Associated Press)

In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 photo, Syrian refugee women attend a knitting class part of emotional support session provided to them by volunteers from the Refugee Trauma Initiative, in a tent in Frakapor refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Many migrants living in this warehouse tent camp and another one nearby are feeling burned out. They try to keep busy as they dream of a better life in Western Europe and not let boredom or depression set in. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) (The Associated Press)

The European Commission is recommending that 5 nations from the borderless Schengen travel zone be allowed to extend internal frontier controls for another three months because of the exceptional circumstances caused by migration into Europe.

The European Union's executive said Wednesday that EU nations Austria, Germany, Denmark and Sweden and non-member Norway should be allowed to continue the border checks since the arrival of migrants and asylum-seekers into those countries is still significant. The EU Commission specially mentioned Greece, which still has some 60,000 refugees and migrants.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the situation had much improved over the past months but added "we are not there yet unfortunately" when unfettered border crossings should become the norm again.