MOSCOW (Sputnik) — France is calling for stringent border control on the external frontiers of the European Union, as well as for deployment of the European border guards following terrorist attacks in Brussels, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday.
"And I wanted to say to [European Commission President] Jean-Claude [Juncker] what France but not just France, what we want to see, I’m referring not just to France, but to all the governments and to the [European] Commission, strict, stringent control on the external borders, the deployment of the European border guards," Valls told journalists.
Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block confirmed at least 31 deaths and 260 injuries in Tuesday's series of blasts in the departures hall in the Brussels international airport at Zaventem and an explosion in a subway carriage at the Maelbeek station, close to the EU institutions.
"We are dealing with an unparalleled threat…We have to implement what has been decided and that is true for the directive on firearms…and the PNR is essential tool. It’s symbolic but practical tool as well," Valls told a press conference.
The European Union also needs a united security body among other agencies:
"[We] need a union on energy, capital markets on economics, a monetary union but we think that a security union is also required," Juncker said at a joint press conference with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.