France wants more control at Europe’s external borders

In Calais (Pas-de-Calais), migrants came in the hope of crossing the English Channel. To limit this influx, France wants to act at the gateways to the European Union. The island of Lesvos (Greece) is one of the crossing points for migrants, where the authorities record their fingerprints when they are intercepted. Migrants must then apply for asylum in the country of arrival and stay there for the time of the investigation. But some manage to continue on their way.

The twenty-seven countries of the European Union therefore want to lock the external borders with more patrols and systematic registration of migrants. “The countries of first entry, Greece and Italy in particular, do not control enough, in any case this is what the other Member States think (…), they ask these States to really close the window“, says Éric Maurice, head of the Robert Schuman Foundation in Brussels (Belgium).