EU strengthens border controls

Everyone, who enters the EU, will be checked with criminal databases for possible relation to the terrorists.

In a move of solidarity with France, the 28 EU member state governments agreed on Friday, November 20, to speed up measures on the sharing of air passengers' data, to reduce firearms trafficking and to invoke much stricter checks on people crossing Europe's external borders, EU citizens included.

"The European Commission has agreed to present, by the end of the year, a plan to reform the Schengen border code to allow systematic and obligatory checks at all external borders for all travelers, including those who benefit from free movement," said France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve after the emergency meeting in Brussels on Friday. "It's a crucial change," he added.

Until the formal Schengen proposal is complete, the interior and justice ministers also agreed to temporarily tighten checks on the Schengen area's external borders, Deutsche Welle informs.

During the meeting, France called for inter-European flights to be included in upcoming data sweeps and for the information - names, credit cards, itinerary, and personal data - to be kept for one year rather than one month. The so-called Passenger Name Record (PNR) program has stalled for years in the European Parliament due to privacy concerns.

"It is entirely possible for a strong (PNR) proposal to be completed before the end of 2015," Claude Moraes, the chairman of the assembly's civil liberties committee told the Associated Press. Travelers can now expect to not only have their passports examined, but have their personal information checked with criminal databases, as well.