Germany wants to tighten up the EU’s external border controls to stop European fighters coming home from Syria and Iraq.<br /><br />The border-free Schengen zone inside the EU makes it harder to track returning jihadists, Berlin says.<br /><br />An estimated three thousand EU nationals are fighting for Islamist groups in the two countries.<br /><br />“We don‘t want terror to be exported from Europe and we certainly don‘t want trained fighters to return to Europe and Germany and possibly plan attacks here,” said Thomas De Maizere .<br /><br />“We need to make sure … that every border official on the EU‘s external borders knows if the person leaving is a foreign fighter,” he added.<br /><br />EU anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove also said he would push again to set up a European database of passenger information, which was originally rejected by the European Parliament.<br /><br />ISIL has developed a media hub to publish their propaganda online; the group is also active on social media.<br /><br />Top tech companies, such as Twitter, have so far rebuffed EU demands to vet content before it is uploaded.
