REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, HELSINKI -- Finland is expected to tighten border controls due to the terrorist attacks in Paris, said Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila on Saturday.
In a press conference held on Saturday evening, Sipila told reporters that border monitoring has been tightened and police capabilities have been enhanced in Finland immediately after the attacks in Paris.
Sipila said the safety assessment of Finland need not to be raised, as the risk of terrorist attack on Finland still remains at low level.
According to Sipila, Finland is ready to restore border controls, if controls on the EU's external borders do not get to work.
He noted that if the external borders can not be well managed, the EU member states shall control the internal borders, even though the controls will hamper the free movement between the member states.
However, Sipila assured that the Paris attacks do not directly affect the situation of asylum seekers in Finland.
"Every asylum application is processed with great care and people's backgrounds are analyzed," said Sipila.
There has been a preliminary alignment between the EU member countries concerning controls on the internal borders. The issue was also discussed in the Malta summit earlier this week.
On Thursday, Sweden started its temporary border controls to cope with an increasing influx of refugees, even the measure triggered off disputes among EU countries.
From Tirana it was reported Albanian President Bujar Nishani and Prime Minister Edi Rama Saturday sent messages, respectively to French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, expressing solidarity of the Albanian people and offering condolences to the families of innocent victims.
Nishani strongly condemned the barbaric acts of terrorists and extremists, whose goal are to scare and terrorize not only France and the French people, but the entire civilized and democratic world.
Rama, in the letter to his French counterpart Valls, said that Albania and Albanians wherever they are, share in the grief of the French people, vigilant and aware of the proportions of the battle against terror.
Albanian people on Saturday demonstrated their solidarity with the French people, placing candles and bouquets of flowers in honor of the victims in front of the French Embassy in Tirana.
According to the latest report, at least 129 people were killed and 352 injured in the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night.
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