The Cross-Country Killer; How well can the EU cooperate?

Byline: Marie Valla

During the world wars, soldiers died by the thousands in the dense forests of the Ardennes along the boundary of France and Belgium. In the age of the European Union, with open borders and Brussels-based institutions, the specters of conflict and division that haunt these woods would seem a thing of the past. But the story of a cross-border serial killer who buried at least two of his young victims in the Ardennes is raising questions about how well that Union protects its citizens.

Last week French police unearthed what was left of 12-year-old Elisabeth Brichet and 22-year-old Jeanne-Marie Desramault, both killed in 1989, on property surrounding an old hunting lodge deep in the forest. Authorities were led to the site by its former owner, a 62-year-old Frenchman named Michel Fourniret, who has confessed to nine rapes and murders over 15 years. He told investigators he liked "to go hunting for virgin girls."

He could have been stopped long ago. Fourniret was a convicted sex offender in France. But he was paroled after six months in prison in 1987, and moved across the border into Belgium. He might as well have turned invisible. Unaware of his background, Belgium even issued Fourniret a "certificate of good character" that allowed him to get a job at an elementary school. Then Europe signed the Schengen Treaty and opened its borders. That allowed Fourniret to keep killing in France and yet live a quiet life with his wife and child on the other side of the border. "Schengen made life easier for everybody, including criminals," says Pietro Petrucci, spokesman for the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner in Brussels.

Internal security remains one of European states' most ...