European Commission to resist French attempts to tighten border security
Matthew Holehouse in Brussels and Peter Foster, Europe Editor, write:
The European Commission has indicated it will resist any attempt by France to tighten EU border security, after it emerged that foreign fighters have as little as a one per cent chance of being caught when returning from overseas.
Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU Commissioner for migration, insisted that no change is necessary to the current border code that says EU passport holders should be subject to the “minimum checks” when they enter Europe from the Middle East or elsewhere.
The Paris attacks and the apparent ease with which terrorists moved both too and from Syria and then from Belgium into France with weapons in their cars, has raised serious questions about the viability of the Schengen system – questions dismissed by Mr Avramopoulos.
“Schengen is not the problem. We are not intent to open a debate on Schengen's future. Schengen is the greatest achievement of European integration,” he said, “If we put Schengen into question, it is a back-track on European integration. We shall not permit it.”
France has demanded that EU passport holders are subject to the same “systematic” checks as those from outside the EU in order to halt the return of foreign fighters.
That includes cross-referencing them against the Schengen Information System, a watchlist designed to catch criminals, stolen passports and suspected terrorists.
Under current arrangements EU passports that are scanned on entry are only randomly checked against the SIS database to avoid restrictions in EU privacy laws.
“We will definitely be pushing for these measures – as we were after Charlie Hebdo,” said a French diplomatic source, “If this cannot be agreed now, after what happened in Paris, then when can it be?”
The EU’s own rules render the SIS database effectively useless at halting criminals or would-be jihadists who had obtained an EU passport, or an effective forgery.
The Telegraph revealed yesterday how the terrorists suspected of the Paris atrocity boasted of travelling between Syria and Belgium without being caught due to lax checks.
Interior minister: there may be a third body in Saint-Denis siege flat
BFMTV reports that there may be the third body of a terrorist found in the rubble of the appartment which was damaged after a woman set of her suicide belt earlier today.
The interior minister also said that it was necessary to wait for identification to take place.
The woman suicide bomber who appears to have blown herself up inside the St Denis flat stormed by police on Wednesday has been named as Hasna Aitboulahcen, writes Patrick Sawer:
The Italian newspaper La Stampa named Aitboulahcen, born in the northern Paris suburb of Clichy-la-Garenne, on August 12, 1989.
According to reports she had previously tried to reach Syria or Iraq to join Isil.
Jihadists started leaving Raqqa days before Paris attacks for safety reasons
Rory Mulholland writes: Jihadists began leaving Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria, for Mosul in Iraq several days before Friday's deadly attacks in Paris that were claimed by the terror group, France's leading source on the foreign fighters there said.
David Thomson, a journalist who has the country's most extensive contacts with French nationals fighting in Syria, said Mosul, another Isil stronghold, was seen as much safer because Raqqa was being pummelled by coalition air strikes.
France launched a third night of retaliatory strikes on Raqqa on Tuesday night, reportedly hitting two command centres. At least 33 militants have been killed in the city and its outskirts over the past 3 days, according to the Syrian Observatory.
French President François Hollande said after Friday's attacks that they were an "act of war" committed by Isil’s "terrorist army”.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12002350/Paris-France-terror-attacks-isil-Saint-Denis-raid-Molenbeek-suspects-Syria-bombing-live.html
