François Fillon, the conservative front-runner in France’s presidential race, pledged on Tuesday to re-instate “real” border controls to prevent the influx of migrants and restrict the entry of terrorists.

“As long as Europe’s borders are not protected by our partners, France will re-establish real controls at its borders,” Mr Fillon tweeted.

In a break with EU orthodoxy, Mr Fillon said he would ignore the Schengen open borders agreement, seen by many western European leaders as non-negotiable, although several countries have restored some limited border controls to cope with the migration crisis.

Mr Fillon, whose main rival in the election this spring is expected to be Marine Le Pen, the anti-immigration hard-Right leader, made the comment a day after he rejected the open-door policy of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.