HR: EU admits Schenghen passport-free area was a mistake.

EU home ministers - representatives of member states not members of the EU parliament - met yesterday in Brussels to deal with the fall-out over Italy's decision to admit thousands of north African migrants, give them a limited right to remain - and then allow them to travel to France, their planned destination.

When some 20,000 turned up, France stopped the train at the border with Italy and said that, if the passengers were refugees, as they claimed, then they must remain in the country where they landed. That was Italy and it turned them back.

But that caused a different problem for, under the Schengen agreement, there is supposed to be no border controls (on people) at all.

Denmark the precipitated surprise with in the EU by announcing that it was planning to unilaterally re-impose border controls on the borders with Sweden and Germany. The EU said it will take action against Denmark if it breaches rules.

But Denmark's action forced the decision to review the whole idea of a borderless Europe. And yesterday all but four countries agreed that states may impose border controls. But the agreement is an agreement to agree, not a final solution. Germany, for example, does not want any restrictions imposed on freedom of movement across Europe, the Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, being quoted as saying " Freedom to travel is a higher good that we cannot sacrifice for internal political reasons."

It is possible that the right to re-install border controls will be limited to cases where there is a sudden influx of migrants.

France, both a destination country and a transit country is understandably fed up with the whole issue: it's northern ports have been blighted by camps of migrants trying to get to the UK and, having failed, set up under tents and blankets, conducting highway robbery on passing traffic for food, clothing and money.

In parts of Paris and the South, it is suffering a significant increase in crime from migrants from north Africa who are often uneducated and unable to find work. Currently, the number one crime in Paris is theft of smart-phones which are sold on quickly by organised gangs.