Sarkozy calls for more passport control

BRUSSELS, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the European Union should put an end to passport-free travel.

In a speech Thursday in Toulon, France, Sarkozy said the passport-free Schengen Area covering 22 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland should be reconsidered, EUobserver reported.

"Europe, which has to apply internally the principle of free movement but which does not control its external frontiers -- that can't go on. Schengen must be reconsidered," he said.

Interior Minister Claude Gueant agreed with Sarkozy's call for better control of immigration.

"It is easier for immigrants to integrate if there are fewer of them. ... It is obvious that we need to better manage the flow of immigrants. For immigration to work, we need to be welcoming fewer immigrants each year," Gueant told Europe 1 radio.