So, the French president has threatened to suspend participation in the Schengen agreement unless it is reformed.
And Britain has also opted out of the abolition of internal European frontier controls, negotiated through the Schengen agreement.
ECONOMIST: Why Britain��s prime minster needs to change tack on Europe
Austrian officials say Germany and Italy have shown understanding for the decision to temporarily withdraw from the Schengen agreement.
The Schengen Agreement authorising the free movement of people across borders further blurs the trail.
He said that unless there is progress in the next 12 months, then France would suspend participation in the Schengen agreement.
It led to Paris introducing temporary border controls, suspending the free movement of people as guaranteed under the Schengen agreement.
However during the final session, MEPs broadly rejected this, preferring enhanced co-operation, along the lines of the Schengen agreement on border controls.
He fears that the Schengen agreement - the free movement of people within certain EU countries - is working against the French people.
What is more, British opt-outs from the euro or the Schengen agreement (which abolished border controls) have successfully eased strains between Britain and its neighbours.
This called into question one of the founding principles of the European Union - the free movement of people across borders, known as the Schengen Agreement.
So Mr Sarkozy talks about coming out of the Schengen agreement, Ms le Pen of ditching the euro, Mr Hollande of renegotiating the EU's budgetary rules, and Mr Melenchon of sidestepping international markets or Nato's military command structure.
And several countries, including Denmark and France, support the British view that justice and home-affairs business, even with the Schengen agreement brought in, should stay in the third pillar, which would exclude any role for the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice.
Other issues to be dealt with at the summit include the future of the Schengen agreement on the free movement of EU citizens, and the signing of an accession treaty between the EU and Croatia, allowing the ex-Yugoslav country to join the union in 2013.
It is true that the UK opted out of the 1985 Schengen agreement on borders, of committing to join the Euro, and made sure it would have to opt "in" to a raft of new police and justice powers.
Touching on immigration in Europe, he said Britain would give "practical help and advice" to its neighbours in order to avoid a "full scale immigration crisis" and a "complete reversal" of the 1985 Schengen Agreement, which phased out border checks across the continent.
Faced with this challenge, Mr Sarkozy has tried to respond with messages about checking immigration, regaining control of the country's borders (talking about a possible opt out from Europe's Schengen agreement) and dawn raids on suspected Islamic militants.
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