France urges new EU border controls
November 20, 2015, 8:42 am

Paris says Europe can no longer turn its back on the threat of terrorism and has called for more stringent screening at border crossings [Xinhua]

The meeting comes on the heels of statements made by a number of European officials about the threat of Jihadist terrorism and Islamic State boasts that its fighters can easily travel throughout the continent.

France, which has already deployed the military on Paris streets, is calling on Europe, particularly the 26-Schengen block, to “wake up” to the dangers of Islamic State operatives freely moving between their countries and the Middle East.

Paris wants to quickly implement the use of an EU database of airline passengers, overriding privacy fears.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Thursday said that a war had been declared on Europe and said he could not guarantee that a Paris-type attack won’t happen in Germany.

A number of German officials have called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to deploy troops in German cities.

Revelations that the terrorists easily slipped through Belgian-French borders have prompted the European Union to table a set of measures at today’s meeting to increase security checks at Schengen-zone external borders and screen European citizens.

These new measures are likely to meet with resistance among some European lawmakers who uphold the right to free movement in the EU.

Meanwhile, Belgium – which has been accused of not doing enough to crack down on extremist suspects – announced on Thursday that it would pump $430 million into beefing up its security measures such as conducting nighttime searches of suspected dwellings.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande had said the mastermind of the Paris attacks was a Belgian Jihadist who had traveled repeatedly to Syria.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies