Keep Internal EU Border Checks to Combat Terrorism, Say Germany, France and Austria

German police inspect a truck entering Germany at the border to Austria on Sept. 15, 2015 near Freilassing, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

LUXEMBOURG—The European Union’s free-travel zone still needs the temporary border controls set up by some countries in recent years, ministers from Germany, France and Austria said on Friday, citing the continued terrorist threat.

Countries in the EU’s Schengen zone started re-introducing border controls in 2015 during a huge influx of refugees and migrants and after a series of attacks by Islamist militants.