"Today, the borders are not effectively controlled. This will need to be fixed," Juppe emphasized during Thursday Republican debates of candidates for the 2017 French presidential election, aired on BFMTV, saying that Schengen borders need to be reinforced.
Europe has been struggling with a massive influx of refugees amid volatile situations in the Middle East and North Africa. The majority of asylum seekers cross the Mediterranean Sea and arrive in the European Union using southern EU nations as transit points.
EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.
Last month, the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency was formed with the aim of addressing the challenges of migration and internal security. The agency is to provide assistance to national border security services, return illegal migrants to the countries of their origin and participate in search and rescue operations in order to ensure safety within the Schengen Area.
