UK tourists have been warned after France reintroduced strict rules for the first time “since Covid “. UK holidaymakers jetting to the European Union holiday hotspot have been warned over the reintroduction of strict and stringent measures.
France has announced it will extend internal border controls until April next year. The current increased checks, introduced due to heightened terrorist threats, were due to end on 31 October. The controls will be in place along France’s Schengen borders with Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.
Travellers have been warned to expect queues and delays. In September, Germany introduced similar ramped-up checks which have led to traffic jams at the border. France’s newly appointed Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, has pledged tougher measures to manage irregular migration. “The French people want more order in the streets, order at the borders,” Retailleau said in a statement this week.
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He expressed concerns that the country could face overwhelming migratory flows, emphasizing a stricter approach to border management. A French government statement said the change was due to “serious threats to public policy, public order, and internal security posed by high-level terrorist activities… criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and migration flows that risk infiltration by radicalised individuals”.
It is the first time France has introduced controls since the pandemic. The chief executive of travel consultancy the PC Agency, Paul Charles, said: “Sadly, travellers are getting used to tighter controls since Brexit across Europe. This is obviously a further tightening which is not welcome at all.
“It adds to delays and uncertainty when travelling and that puts off people from travelling. It is a retrograde step. With Germany and France, you would think other countries will follow. The danger is that spot checks become permanent checks as borders tighten under deeper government policies to protect France.”
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