A tightening of the screws. Germany announced on Monday, September 9, that it would generalize police checks at all of its borders for six months, starting September 16. Berlin considers these measures necessary to “protecting internal security against current threats of Islamist terrorism and cross-border crime”. Franceinfo returns to thisThis decision is not without causing tension in other border countries and the European authorities..
All neighbouring countries are concerned, including France
Checks with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark will be re-established for six months from September 16. They are in addition to the system already in place at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.These are smart controlsexplains to the World MP Nils Schmid (SPD). OWe are not going to stop every car, nor close the borders as in the time of Covid. The border police will observe the crossings more carefully.”
At the Franco-German border in Kehl, near Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), the police presence was already visible on the Pont de l’Europe on Tuesday, with checks on the way down from the tram on the German side. The reactions are mixed, between incomprehension, annoyance and approval from local residents, as France Télévisions was able to observe on the spot.
Germany: Return of border controls with France
In Alsace, border residents have been observing the reestablishment of controls at the German border since Monday, September 9, following several attacks in Germany.
(France 2)
If the Alsatians and Mosellans are already familiar with these reinforced controls, a measure applied during the Covid period, or more recently during the Euro 2024 football championship or the Paris Olympic Games. Some 50,000 cross-border workers are potentially affected.
“Kehl is a suburb of Strasbourg, just as Strasbourg is a suburb of Kehl, we are brothers, we are neighbors, they are our cousins, it’s a bit rubbish,” comments a passer-by to France 3 Grand-Est. “We are in a society of control that is going completely crazy. I can only observe the disintegration of individual freedoms. Here, the border has disappeared. Controls are nonsense.”adds another walker.
This temporary measure is provided for by European law
These controls at the internal borders of the Member States of the European Union (EU) derogate from the rules of free movement in the Schengen area and are in principle prohibited within the EU. However, a revision of the Schengen Code in May allows them to be put in place for a period of six months in the event of a threat to internal security, provided that Brussels is notified. The German Interior Ministry has also specified that it has notified the EU authorities of these new controls.
The controls must be “exceptional”, “necessary and proportionate”recalled a spokesperson for the Commission in Brussels, according to comments reported by AFP. She insisted on the “principle of proportionality” and mentioned possible “alternative measures” like “joint patrols” between European states.
A context of strong terrorist threat and rise of the extreme right
This announcement comes two weeks after the attack in Solingen claimed by the Islamic State group, which left three dead and eight injured during local festivities. The investigation revealed that the man accused of being the perpetrator, a Syrian who arrived in Germany at the end of 2022, was subject to an expulsion measure to Bulgaria, where his arrival had been registered. When the German authorities wanted to expel him, he had disappeared. In early September, an attempted attack also targeted the Israeli consulate general in Munich. The main suspect is an 18-year-old Austrian, suspected of Islamist radicalization.
Adding to this high terrorist threat is the strong rise of the far-right AFD party, which achieved historic results in two regional elections in early September. A new xenophobic left-wing movement, the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which calls for tighter control of migration flows, also made a spectacular breakthrough in these elections. Both parties could achieve a new significant score on September 22, in elections in Brandenburg, the region around Berlin.
Berlin has taken other measures to limit immigration
Under pressure, Olaf Scholz’s government announced the withdrawal of aid for asylum seekers who entered another European Union state before going to Germany. Berlin also wants to speed up the expulsion of refugees who have been the subject of a criminal conviction. At the end of August, Germany sent back to their country 28 Afghans convicted of crimes, a first since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
“We continue to apply our hard line against irregular immigration”Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Monday, referring to the generalization of border controls. A year ago, the country had already strengthened its system in a context of a sharp rise in the number of asylum applications. The Social Democratic Chancellor boasted on Sunday of having “achieved the biggest change in the last ten or twenty years in the management of immigration”claiming this hardening after the welcoming policy embodied by the former conservative leader Angela Merkel.
During the 2015-2016 migration crisis, Europe’s largest economy took in more than a million refugees, including many Syrians fleeing war and repression by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Germany has taken in around a million Ukrainian exiles. But this reception of refugees is putting many communities to the test. Berlin invoked on Monday “the limited capacities of municipalities in terms of accommodation, education and integration”.
This new migration policy irritates Germany’s neighbors
The move strains relations between Germany and some of its neighbors, especially since the government also said Monday that it wanted to turn back more migrants at Germany’s borders. The controversial measure involves sending asylum seekers back to the EU country through which they arrived, without allowing them to apply in Germany. Austria has already warned that it “would not accept people turned away from Germany”according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, in the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for his part, described on Tuesday as“unacceptable” these controls, which had already been put in place for Poland a year ago. Denouncing a “large-scale suspension” free movement in the Schengen area, he announced in a televised speech that he would request urgent consultation with the “other countries affected by these decisions” with a view to a “reaction within the European Union regarding this issue”.
Faced with these criticisms, the German government defended itself on Tuesday from going it alone within the EU on immigration policy. “These are not isolated national initiatives that could harm the European Union”assured the Minister of the Interior.