LUXEMBOURG, (Reuters) – France and Germany sought to drum up support among other European countries yesterday for new rules to make it easier to suspend passport-free travel in Europe, reflecting voters’ anxiety over large-scale migration.
At a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg, French and German officials argued that member states needed more power over border rules to ensure security in the Schengen zone, where passport-free travel is allowed between 26 EU and non-EU states. France’s interior minister, Claude Gueant, said Schengen was allowing illegal migrants to reach deep into Europe.
“Schengen is not functioning in a satisfactory manner,” Gueant told reporters. “There are, according to experts, some 400,000 people who have entered (Europe) in an irregular manner … Between two and four million foreigners live clandestinely in Schengen countries.”
The push comes as centre-right French President Nicolas Sarkozy campaigns for the second, decisive round of presidential elections to be held on May 6.
Sarkozy trails his centre-left rival Francois Hollande, following a first round in which far-right leader Marine Le Pen drew nearly a fifth of the votes.
The two remaining candidates will benefit if they can attract the second-round ballots of Le Pen’s supporters.
Sarkozy has in the past pledged to halve immigration and pull France out of the Schengen zone unless its external frontiers are strengthened.
Debates over immigration heated up in Europe in the last year when popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa led hundreds of thousands of people to seek refuge from violence. Many attempted to cross into Europe.
