The French President said he would present proposals to the European Union's partners at a summit in December

Macron announces increased border control to curb terrorism and illegal immigration

photo_camera AP/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO - l presidente francés Emmanuel Macron , saluda a las autoridades locales al llegar al 'Centre de cooperation policiere et douaniere' (Centro de cooperación policial y aduanera franco-español) durante una visita sobre el fortalecimiento de los controles fronterizos en el cruce entre España y Francia, en Le Perthus, Francia, el jueves 5 de noviembre de 2020

The latest Islamist terrorist attacks in Nice and Vienna have prompted the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to make a move in terms of border control.

The visit to the French-Spanish border at Le Perthus/La Junquera was accompanied by a huge deployment of police forces, in which the French president stated that he was "in favour of a thorough reform of Schengen in order to rethink its organisation and strengthen our common border security with an appropriate border force".

Stricter controls were needed to curb illegal immigration, Macron said, adding that criminal gangs that smuggle migrants into Europe are often linked to terrorist networks.

The president said he would present proposals to the European Union's partners at an EU summit in December.

El presidente francés Emmanuel Macron saluda a los oficiales de policía españoles durante una visita sobre el fortalecimiento de los controles fronterizos en el cruce entre España y Francia, en Le Perthus, Francia, el jueves 5 de noviembre de 2020 2020

Europe is recovering from two attacks last week that involved assailants moving freely between Schengen member states.

On October 29, a Tunisian killed three people in a church in Nice. Brahim Aouissaoui had arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which faces North Africa, five weeks earlier. After being transferred to the continent, Aouissaoui travelled to France by train hours before launching his attack. In addition to this attack, French professor Samuel Paty was beheaded by a young Chechen Islamist radical.

The Jihadist who killed four people in Vienna on the 2nd of this month travelled to neighbouring Slovakia in July in an attempt to buy ammunition, said Austrian officials. Austria's chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, considered the action that occurred in six different places in the city centre to be a "repulsive terrorist attack". 

He also said it was clearly an "Islamist attack" and promised that his country would defend democracy.

Stephanie Williams, enviada especial para la misión de la ONU en Libia

Kurz added that the enemy is violent extremism, not all members of a religion or a country.

Macron warned that the recent attacks were a warning to Europe that "the terrorist risk is everywhere".

At the meeting before the EU-27, Macron plans to present a series of proposals based on the principles he set out in a letter to the French people before last year's European elections. In that letter, the French president wrote that Europe needed a common border force and a single asylum office, strict border control obligations and each member state providing intelligence under the authority of a European Internal Security Council.

On Thursday, the president said that France would double the number of police officers at its borders.

Nearly 628,000 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in the bloc in 2019, 10% more than the previous year, according to Eurostat. More than 717,000 non-EU citizens were refused entry, the highest number on record.

Stephanie Williams, enviada especial para la misión de la ONU en Libia

The head of France's border police told Macron that there has been an increase in attempts to cross the French-Spanish border since it reopened in June after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Many came from Algeria and Morocco, the agents said.

"We need to strengthen our fight against illegal immigration and the traffickers who increasingly have links to terrorism," the president said.

The Schengen area consists of 22 of the 27 European Union Member States, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Britain and Ireland are not part of it.

More in Politics