The end to passport free zones

The Schengen agreement causes French and Italian tensions

The agreement comes after several weeks of intense debate between the Italian and French authorities who have clashed over the influx of Tunisian migrants.

The Italian border city of Ventimiglia, which has become a frontline battleground between the two countries, has seen thousands of Tunisian immigrants camp out in the city, after the French border police blocked their crossing over the frontier.

The council’s agreement will have to pass through the European parliament, with strong resistance expected from MEPs.

The European commission said that it would only temporarily suspend the Schengen agreements, as a last resort and only in extreme circumstances.

The commission is likely to be pushed by a heavy right wing bias to national governments across the European Union, many of which (Italy included) are propped up by far right-wing fringe parties.

In France the beleaguered president Nicolas Sarkozy has pushed a hard right wing agenda on immigration in an attempt to neutralise the threat of the Marine Le Pen led Front National, with presidential elections a little under 12 months away.

TD