This move comes just months after long-time President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika resigned from office following nationwide protests. | Read More</s>France notified the European Commission of its intention to renew the ban for a further six months, a commission spokeswoman told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

Although the 26-nation Schengen zone is supposed to allow free movement across borders, France brought back passport checks at its borders after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

The decision has to be renewed every six months and the next deadline in 30 April.

Checks to control migration in the zone must have commission approval but security-based ones can be decided unilaterally.

Austria is also to extend its border contrls for six months.

Germany, Swede, Denmark and Norway have also imposed them but do not need to impose them until 12 May.</s>France said Wednesday it has decided to extend border checks with countries in Europe's Schengen passport-free zone until the end of October because of the persistent threat of terrorism.

France introduced border controls after the Islamic State group attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015 and has renewed them every six months since then amid new attacks.

"Considering the number of recent and thwarted attacks, particularly the one in Trebes, that have hit French territory, the government has decided a new extension," the French interior ministry said.

Moroccan-born Frenchman Radouane Lakdim, during a rampage in Carcassonne and Trebes on March 23, killed four people before he was shot dead by police.

A European Commission spokesman confirmed "we received notification from France this week" to extend controls for six months beyond the April 30 expiry date.

Unlike temporary checks to curb migration in the Schengen zone, those linked to security do not require a formal green light from the Commission, the 28-nation EU executive.

A total of 26 European countries, including 22 European Union member states, make up the Schengen zone where no passport is required when crossing borders.

In addition to France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and non-EU Norway have also imposed border controls, but initially to curb uncontrolled migration.

Those countries grappled with chaos as people fleeing war in Syria and other countries headed to wealthy northern EU countries after landing en masse in Greece in 2015.

However, migrant flows have declined sharply following EU cooperation deals with Turkey and Libya, the main gateways to Europe.

And the commission has since last year said it will no longer allow migration as a pretext to impose border checks because it says order has been restored.

Those countries in November for the first time cited security concerns for renewing the checks even if they also warn of the need to control migration.

Permission for the five other countries to continue the checks expires on May 12 and most appear set to request a renewal.

In a letter to the European Commission, Austria's interior minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) asked for a six-month extension of controls on its borders with Hungary and Slovenia.

Though illegal migrant arrivals have decreased, "the smugglers would see the loss of internal border checks as a false signal and intensify their activities," Kickl wrote, according to the Austrian press agency APA.

The commission said it has not yet received notification from Austria.

A diplomatic source said Poland, Hungary and Slovenia meanwhile have complained to EU member states that they are paying an economic price for the border checks, questioning the pretext of security.</s>France has decided to extend border checks with countries in Europe’s Schengen passport-free zone until the end of October because of “the persistent threat of terrorism.” Border controls were introduced following Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015. The checks have been renewed every six months since then amid new attacks. “Considering the number of recent and thwarted attacks, particularly the one in Trebes, that have hit French territory, the government has decided a new extension,” the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. A European Commission spokesman confirmed “we received notification from France this week” to extend controls for six months beyond the April 30 expiry date, AFP reported.</s>France will extend border control within Schengen area until the end of October caused by the terrorist threat, the EU Commission confirmed.

“We received notification from France this week,” a spokesperson said at briefing in the European Commission when asked if France indicated an extension of controls for six months beyond the current expiry date of April 30.

France took a measure reintroducing control along Schengen area borders after the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015.

The security border control has been renewed every six months since then as France, while the society is plagued by terrorist attacks since then.

Today the European Commission denied any reception of the notice from Austrian government on extension of border control, however very few doubt it will come, as announced in Austrian newspapers. However Austria also plans to use its upcoming presidency of the European Union to switch from resettling refugees within the EU to prevention of further flow of illegal migrants into EU, – Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in March.</s>The French government reintroduced identity checks at its shared borders with other members of the visa-free Schengen zone after a group of Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists launched a wave of coordinated suicide bombings and shootings in Paris on the night of November 13, 2015, killing 130 people and injuring scores more.

Since then, the internal border checks have been renewed every six months as the terror threat to France shows no sign of abating.

The French interior ministry said: “Considering the number of recent and thwarted attacks, particularly the one in Trèbes, that have hit French territory, the government has decided a new extension.”

The interior ministry spokesperson was referring to the March 23 terrorist attack in the sleepy southern town of Trèbes during which four people were shot dead by Moroccan-born Frenchman Radouane Lakdrim, a radical Islamist known to police for his links to the hardline Salafi movement.
The European Commission reveals it has received notice from France that the nation intends to extend passport checks, normally not carried out at Schengen Area borders, for six months beyond the present April 30 expiry date.