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Germany debates extending tightened border controls

August 13, 2024

Interior minister Nancy Faeser wants to extend border checks until new EU asylum rules come into force next year. She says the extra checks are helping to reduce irregular migration, but faces criticism from the Greens.

https://p.dw.com/p/4jQl4
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser speaks to police in the city of Görlitz
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited police in the city of Görlitz, where she spoke in favor of extending inner-Schengen border checksImage: Paul Glaser/dpa/picture alliance

Germany's interior minister, Nancy Faeser, wants to keep tighter border controls in place on the country's borders with Poland, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic to combat illegal migration until the European Union's new asylum system takes effect later next year.

"For me, the border controls should remain as long as necessary," she said during a visit to the eastern German city of Görlitz on the Polish border.

"We have achieved great success in reducing irregular migration [and] the fight against smugglers has been very effective," she added.

Why are there now border checks in place?

Theoretically, there are no border controls between countries in the European Union's free movement "Schengen" area, and any exemptions to that need authorization by the European Commission.

Germany was permitted to introduce limited checks in response to a sharp increase in first-time asylum requests last year, and also imposed some additional checks during the European Championship football tournament.

The current exemption period ends on December 15, but the EU's new rules to handle irregular arrivals of asylum seekers are unlikely to come into full effect before the end of 2025.

Faeser, of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), said Berlin would have to notify the European Commission of an extension, a move which is already facing opposition from the Green Party, one of the SPD's coalition partners.

German interior minister: Islamist terrorist threat 'increased significantly'

Greens demand return to full freedom of movement

In an open letter to the European Commission, Green lawmakers criticized Faeser's plans as not compatible with the Schengen Borders Code and demanded a return to full freedom of movement.

They said the additional inner-EU checks were causing disruption for people and businesses in border regions, for cross-border commuters, for trade and for the police themselves, and questioned Faeser's claims that the checks were having a positive effect on curbing irregular migration.

Support for border checks from conservative opposition

Joachim Hermann of the opposition conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), on the other hand, is in favor of Faeser's plan to extend the extra checks.

"We need the intensified border controls for security and migration reasons more than ever," said the Bavarian state interior minister, arguing that the global geopolitical situation is the tensest it's been in years.

"Islamist terror still has Europe very much in its sights," he claimed, but said the extra checks had created a "tight control net."

"Our significantly strengthened Bavarian border police is working closely with the federal police, which is also active on the border and in border areas."

mf/wmr (dpa, Reuters)