France and Germany want the power to close the European Union’s open borders amid fears over terrorism and migration, secret document reveals
The EU’s two biggest countries want to prevent passport-free travel for up to four years if they are hit by a crisis
FRANCE and Germany want to be able to suspend the European Union’s open borders amid fears over terrorism and migration.
The EU’s two biggest countries want to prevent passport-free travel for up to four years if they are hit by a crisis.
A confidential diplomatic paper seen by The Times reveals the nations are pushing for the Schengen zone to be suspended in “exceptional circumstances”.
This would mean all travellers would be subject to border checks as they enter a country.
This comes as the European Commission is to end emergency frontier controls introduced recently after terrorist attacks and during the migration crisis.
Under the border check proposals, governments would be allowed to introduce frontier controls for years rather than months.
These proposals are also supported by other a Schengen members Austria, Denmark and Norway.
EU interior ministers discussed the plans yesterday at a private meeting in Brussels.
All the countries insist that the checks are needed for internal security reasons after more than a million migrants entered Europe illegally in the last two years.
Current EU rules put a six-month limit on internal border controls due to a serious threat to public security.
Checks are also allowed for a three-month period if the entire Schengen zone is considered to be under threat.
The group of countries complains that the rules do “not match the need in the context of a long-term terrorist threat” such as the period following the Paris attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 people.”
