Eastern European countries will be kicked out of the Schengen Zone along with Greece, Spain, and Italy under a radical plan to save the European Union passport-free travel area in the wake of the migrant crisis.

Belgium, France, German, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are set to re-draw the boundaries to just include the original members, creating a ‘Mini-Schengen’.

Strict checks could also be introduced at passport control to systematically compare the names of all arrivals against those on counter-terrorism databases – potentially leading to much longer queues.

Crossing: Migrants and refugees arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. The EU will discuss redrawing the borders of the Schengen Zone

Influx: Migrants and refugees enter a registration camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border. Greece is among the countries to be kicked out of the passport-free travel area in the wake of the migrant crisis

The five countries removed all check points between each other 20 years ago, but the travel area has since grown dramatically to being 26 countries with a single external border.

The present-day zone covers all the EU Member States – except the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia – as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which are all outside the EU.

As the migration crisis has spiralled, the Schengen Zone has been blamed for allowing crowds of asylum seekers to make their way uncontrolled through the continent.

Kept out: A migrant is lowered down from a border fence by a Spanish Civil Guard at the border between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla. The migrant crisis is leading to calls to kick Spain, as well as Greece and Italy and eastern European countries out of the passport-free travel zone Schengen

In response countries have been bringing back temporary check points between each other to stem the flow of people and get back control of who crosses their borders.

One of the suicide bombers involved in the Paris attacks is believed to have got to France after posing as a Syrian refugee on the Greek island of Leros.

An emergency meeting of EU justice and interior ministers – called following the attacks - will discuss re-drawing the Schengen Zone in Brussels on Friday.

In the zone: This is the Schengen area which could be a lot smaller according to EU plans to stem the migrant crisis. The countries in red could all be kicked out, leaving in only the countries in blue

Leaders have been holding behind closed door discussions ahead of the summit to work out if a much smaller passport-free travel zone could help ease the crisis.

The countries in the new area would work together to control their new external border more tightly and impose thorough checks on asylum seekers on arrival.

Refugee camps would also be set up close to the new frontier to help manage the flows.

An EU diplomat told the Daily Mail: ‘We all recognise that Schengen is in trouble and all parties are trying to find a way to ease the burden created by the migrant crisis.

Target: European Council president Donald Tusk says radical action is needed

‘We have not agreed a solution yet, but we are talking to each other and discussing different options ahead of Friday’s meeting.

But EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who has led the European Commission shambolic response to the crisis, insisted there was no need to discuss whether Schengen should be sheleved.

‘If we make full use of the tools given to us by Schengen our external borders will be protected in a more efficient way," he said.

‘We don't intend to open a discussion on Schengen's future. Schengen is the greatest achievement of European integration.’

EU leaders last week admitted they were in a ‘race against time’ to stop the impending collapse of Schengen as Sweden became the latest country to slam shut its borders.

The move was seen as particularly significant as the Scandinavian country has been one of the most hospitable to migrants with the highest number per capita in any of Europe.

European Council president Donald Tusk said the travel zone was destined to fail without radical action to secure Europe’s external border

‘Let there be no doubt, the future of Schengen is at stake and time is running out,’ the former Polish prime minister said.

‘The clock is ticking, we are under pressure, we need to act fast.

Fight: Migrants try to get onto the train heading to the Serbian border at the train station in Gevgelija. Eastern European countries could be excluded from the Schengen Zone under EU plans

Queue: Migrants after disembarking from the Royal Navy ship HMS "Bulwark" upon their arrival in the port of Catania on the coast of Sicily

‘Saving Schengen is a race against time, and we are determined to win that race.’

Mr Tusk, who chairs the meetings of all 28 EU leaders, said urgent measures needed to be implemented. ‘This includes, first and foremost, restoring external border control,’ he said.

‘Without effective border control, the Schengen rules will not survive. We must hurry, but without panic.’

The Schengen Agreement includes strict rules that mean police are not allowed to conduct identity checks on those going between countries if they have ‘an effect equivalent to border checks’.

Border controls can only be temporarily re-instated for a short period if this is necessary for ‘public policy or national security’ reasons.

The agreement is named after the town in Luxembourg where it was signed in 1985, a decade before the borders were removed.