France has called for a mechanism to suspend visa-free travel around the European Union, after an influx of thousands of migrants from Libya and Tunisia into Italy.
Italy's decision to grant Tunisians 20,000 temporary residence permits, allowing free travel in the passport-free Schengen zone, has angered France.
A senior French official has called for the temporary return of border controls when there is a ‘systemic failure at an external EU border’.
Suspension of the agreement is permitted under the Schengen Pact, but only in the case of a ‘grave threat to the public order or internal security’.
Under the current agreement, in these exceptional circumstances, border controls can only initially be reintroduced for a maximum of 30 days.
