German Border Checks Take Effect as Tensions Over Migration Rise

(Bloomberg) — A temporary extension of border controls to all of Germany’s nine land frontiers takes effect on Monday, part of an enhanced effort to tackle irregular migration and people smuggling that has irritated some of its neighbors.

Germany already had controls on its eastern borders with Poland and the Czech Republic, and those to the south with Switzerland and Austria. They’re now being widened for six months to include Denmark to the north and the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Luxembourg to the west, effectively removing the guarantee of free movement within the European Union set out in the Schengen provisions.

According to the interior ministry in Berlin, the government wants to limit the impact from its measures on travelers and commuter traffic as much as possible, and is in close touch with authorities in neighboring countries, but can’t rule out additional disruptions.

The move means that German police can establish stationary and mobile checks and also have the power to turn people away, as long as their actions are in line with domestic and European law.

“No long traffic jams, but smart controls, just as the current situation requires,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was quoted as saying Sunday by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “The internal border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland that have been running very well for almost a year have shown how this works.”

Opinion polls show that frustration with the government’s migration and asylum policies was a key reason why parties of the extreme right and left did well in two regional elections in eastern Germany this month.

The rise in recent months of the far-right Alternative for Germany and a new party of the far left — the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht — has prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz and officials in his government, as well as members of the main opposition conservatives, to toughen their rhetoric.

On Saturday, Scholz justified the new border controls by suggesting that other EU countries are not fulfilling their obligations. Faeser has also said the new checks are needed to protect Germany from Islamic terrorists.

“Unfortunately, we can’t completely rely on all of our neighbors doing things the way they should, that’s part of the truth,” Scholz said at a town hall meeting with citizens in Brandenburg, according to local media.

Poland was one of Germany’s EU partners that reacted angrily to the decision to impose additional controls, even though they’ve been in use on the nations’ shared border since October. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that Germany’s actions amount to a “de facto suspension of Schengen.”

“You can’t agree with such extreme behavior,” Tusk told a meeting of ambassadors in Warsaw. “Such actions are unacceptable from the Polish point of view.”

Scholz and Tusk discussed the border issue by telephone on Friday. The Polish leader said in a post on X that he had “emphasized that the only way to stop illegal migration is to effectively control the external borders of the European Union. Not the internal ones.”

–With assistance from Agnieszka Barteczko and Piotr Skolimowski.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.