Marine Le Pen: Schengen is a security disaster

In a statement published on her website, she blamed Schengen for allowing the Berlin jihadist to escape Germany with great ease.

“Deprived of permanent national borders and customs infrastructure at the level, France, like most of its neighbors, is reduced to learning after the fact that an armed and dangerous jihadist was probably wandering on its soil,” she said.

“I reiterate my commitment to give France full control over its national borders and to put an end to the Schengen agreement. The myth of total free movement in Europe, to which my opponents still cling in this presidential election, must be buried.”

The Schengen zone includes 26 European states, and both EU and non-EU members. Under the agreement, which was signed in 1995, border controls between European countries were abolished.

France however reinstated its internal border controls after the Paris attacks in November 2015, which killed 130 people.

But free movement of people and goods across much of the continent has become strained with the migrant crisis and the rise of Islamic State.

A number of experts believe the Schengen zone is a weakness in European security, allowing drugs and arms smuggling, as well as criminals and terrorists to travel around unimpeded.

The leader of Italy’s Five Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, echoed Le Pen’s sentiments on his blog that “Italy has become a pathway for terrorists, who we are not able to recognize thanks to Schengen,” adding that “we must act now.”

He also praised Cristian Movio and Luca Scatà, the two officers who confronted the terrorist Anis Amri, calling them “secular saints”.

Amri, who became Europe’s most wanted man following the Berlin terror attack, was found with train tickets showing he travelled through Chambery, France, from Germany into Italy.

“If the man shot in Milan is the Berlin killer, then the Schengen Area is proven to be a risk to public safety,” Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party tweeted. “It must go.”

The 24-year-old Tunisian terror suspect had managed to travel over 800 kilometres from the scene of the crime to Milan, before he was shot dead by the two police officers.