France tightens its frontiers.

The French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced that France is reinstating border controls as a response to the London bombings. He made the statement at a meeting in Brussels with his fellow European Interior Ministers.

"If we don't reinforce border controls when around 50 people die in London, then I don't know when we should," he stated.

In theory, according to the Schengen agreement, there is free movement of citizens between European countries. However the agreement does have a safety clause which allows for a suspension of this free movement if national security calls for it.

This is not the first time that France has reinstated border controls. It has happened before as a precautionary measure for sporting events and other important occasions, but only for very short periods of time.

The Italian interior minister Mr Pisanu also said that he was considering imposing border controls with Italys northern neighbours.