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M. Continuo

Germany's Schaeuble doesn't want tighter borders slowing EU integration


    BERLIN (Reuters) - Tightening border controls between European Union countries would jeopardise EU integration and member states must address the influx of refugees into Europe by controlling the bloc's external borders, Germany's Finance Minister said on Tuesday.

    "We don't want to fall back into a time when borders were hindering the political and economic integration," Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble told a news conference in Berlin after meeting the finance ministers of France and Poland.

    French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Europe needed to act quickly to counter terror financing.

    "We need a harmonisation between us of exchange of information. This needs to happen quickly," Sapin said.

    (Reporting by Tina Bellon and Paul Carrel; Editing by Caroline Copley)