France to subject European citizens to deep checks with in Schengen travel zone

France says it will not wait for a change in EU rules to subject every European citizen to deep checks when they enter the Schengen travel-free zone.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she wholeheartedly supported the hugely increased vigilance all EU citizens and travellers into the EU will be subject to in the future.

She warned that every country including Ireland was in danger from extremists.

“Every democratic country — it is democratic values that are being challenged, so it is possible there could be an attack, but not likely, on Ireland, but every democratic country faces these challenges,” she said after an emergency meeting in Brussels.

As well as systematically checking the passport of every EU and third-country national entering the travel-free zone to ensure the passport has not been stolen, all will now be scanned against a raft of international databases to see if they are suspected of terrorist activities, including fighting for IS.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald

Some see this as a bending of the rules but the French minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said they believed it was possible under the current rules, and were going to implement it immediately, pending more permanent changes to be drafted by the commission in the coming weeks.

“There is a high level of threat in France. We have to face it and it is our duty to protect the French people,” Mr Cazeneuve.

“France bore the brunt of one of the worst terror attacks ever in Europe. We must be implacable in our determination and speed, otherwise Europe will lose its way. We need to act swiftly, firmly and with force, we owe it to all victims of terrorism and the families.

"France will do whatever it can to destroy terrorism. The Europe we love and have built must also do so,” he said, adding it was time for action and the time for talking was over.

The plan to take details of all passengers on flights into and between EU countries has been held up in the European Parliament, but ministers are insistent it must be agreed in the next few days.

As well as retaining all the passenger name records, the minister agreed the details would not be anonymised for a year, rather than a month as originally proposed, and be retained for much longer than a year.

They also agreed that ‘s’ files — logging people suspected of being foreign fighters — will also be added to the Schengen Information System.

“All these checks must be applied to everyone — that is the only way to ensure the system is effective,” he said.

Ireland is not part of the Schengen Information System because it is not part of the EU travel-free area so it will not receive the alerts about fighters and other suspect individuals.

Ms Fitzgerald said Ireland will take the steps necessary to share in the SIS system allowed to countries not in Schengen — alerts related to law enforcement such as missing persons and property.

Meanwhile, 10 Irish UN troops stationed close to the Mali hotel where more than 20 people died in yesterday’s terrorist attack are reported safe and were able to contact their families.