UK tourists in France face 'strict' new checks which will be 'sporadic'

Tourists heading to France will likely face massive delays as the country plans to carry out extra checks at the Schengen borders. The popular European destination has notified the European Union that it intends to reinstate checks at the Schengen borders with its neighbours.

France has announced its plans to reintroduce police checks at borders with its six Schengen zone neighbours: Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. These enhanced checks will begin on Friday, November 1, and will last for six months, with the possibility of renewal starting April 1st, reports The Local.

France has announced that it intends to bring back police checks at the borders with its six Schengen zone neighbours - Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. The enhanced checks will be reinstated from Friday, November 1st and will run for a six-month period, although it will be possible to renew from April 1.

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Interior minister Bruno Retailleau says that the checks are coming back because of "serious threats to public order and domestic security posed by high-level terrorist activities. He championed the return of border checks while on a visit with prime minister Michel Barnier to the town of Menton, close to the Italian border, on Friday.

This will be the first time that widespread checks on all its borders have been imposed since the creation of the Schengen zone in 1995. Since 2011 several countries have imposed extra controls on their Schengen borders due to fears over clandestine migration.

The checks will be conducted sporadically, rather than for every traveller - and the EU specifies that although a country may reintroduce checks if it feels this is necessary, the checks must be "proportionate and limited to the minimum time necessary to ensure safety".

Luxembourg prime minister Luc Frieden told RTL news that he had been in discussion with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz and said he had "clearly said that this is not a good idea".