EU agrees to tighten checks on all travellers at Schengen
borders
Interior ministers from the 28-nation European Union
holding an emergency meeting in Brussels also backed France’s call for a
fundamental revision of the Schengen deal to allow the “systematic” controlling
of EU citizens at borders, the sources said.
“Member states undertake to implement immediately the
necessary systematic and coordinated checks at external borders, including on
individuals enjoying the right of free movement,” a draft copy of a statement
from the meeting said.
The Paris attacks in which 129 people died have raised
troubling questions about border security in the Schengen zone, where citizens
of 22 EU countries, plus non-EU Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein
enjoy passport-free travel.
Schengen has come under scrutiny following the
revelations that some of the Paris attackers came from Belgium, and that
alleged ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud may have come back from fighting with IS
in Syria to take part before his death in a police raid on Wednesday.
EU officials said travellers will now not only have their
passports examined but have their personal information checked with databases.
AFP
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