Under pressure to beef up security and reassure voters following the latest attacks, Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe's troubled Schengen zone of control-free travel over open borders urgently needed fixing.
The attacks in Nice and Vienna involved assailants who moved freely between Schengen countries. "The threat of terrorism weighs on all of Europe. We must respond," Macron said after discussing the matter with Merkel, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and top officials in Brussels, the EU hub.
"To reform Schengen is to allow free movement in security," he said. Merkel sided with Macron in demanding stricter controls along the external frontier of the Schengen area, which brings together 26 countries, including most EU members, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. "It is vitally necessary to know who comes in and who leaves the Schengen area," she said. -Full Report
