Macron, Merkel Urge Schengen Area Reform in Wake of Terror Attacks in Europe - Sputnik International

A spate of terrorist attacks has rocked Europe recently, with two deadly attacks taking place in France and one in the Austrian capital Vienna in October and November.

French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that terrorism threat has become a new European reality and called on the European countries to come up with a coordinated and quick answer to it. Macron suggested that the Schengen Area must be reformed and that the EU needs to rethink the area's open border policy.

He clarified that while the EU wants to keep the Schengen borders open, it also wants them to be better protected. Macron added that it is the protection of the external borders that is at stake, not a limitation of the right to asylum, which in his opinion has been "tilted".

The French president went on to speak in favour of establishing a European internal security council. Macron highlighted that the creation of "common databases", the exchange of information between European countries, and the "strengthening of criminal policies" should be among the measures implemented in response to the increasing terrorist attacks.

    "We must reform Schengen so that it becomes a security space", Macron said.

His statements were partially echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who argued that countries need to know who enters and leaves the Schengen Area. The chancellor also stressed that a new entry-exit system is planned to be put in place at the Schengen Area’s external borders in 2022 to monitor the arrivals and the departures of non-Schengen residents and collect data on them, including biometric.

Merkel strongly condemned all kinds of religious hate and assured that European countries are not trying to set Islam against Christianity.