EU economy will suffer if free-travel zone collapses: Juncker

Brussels

EUROPEAN Union citizens would have a harder time finding jobs and the region's economy would suffer should Europe's internal passport-free zone collapse under the pressure of the migration crisis, the head of the bloc's executive said on Friday.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker conceded it would not be easy to curb the mass influx of migrants and refugees, a top priority for Germany - the 28-nation bloc's biggest economy and the main destination for those arriving.