German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser confirmed today that she has ordered temporary controls along the country’s entire land border. In addition to the Czech, Austrian, Polish and Swiss borders, the federal police will also guard the borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. According to her, the measure, which the minister has already informed the European Commission about, is aimed at illegal migration.
Germany has been controlling the borders with Austria since 2015, and since last October also with the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland. Until the end of September, temporary border controls with France were planned due to the Olympics and Paralympics.
According to Interior Minister Faeserová, the aim of the measure is to reduce the number of cases of illegal migration and increase Germany’s internal security, especially with regard to to the possible threat of Islamist terrorism.
The government has also developed a model for “effective rejection of migrants at borders that will be in line with European law”Faeserová added at the press conference.
In Germany, there has been a debate in recent weeks about the tightening of migration policy. It was mainly sparked by the August terrorist attack in Solingen, in which a failed asylum seeker from Syria killed three people and injured eight others at a town party. Elections in the East German states of Saxony and Thuringia added impetus to this debate, in which the anti-immigration AfD won over 30 percent of the vote. The party even won the Thuringian elections and is aiming for victory in the regional elections in Brandenburg in two weeks.
On Tuesday, the second round of negotiations between representatives of the government, the opposition and the federal states is to take place in Berlin. After the attack in Solingen, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government presented a “security package” to tighten Germany’s migration policy.
Söder wants to reduce the number of asylum applications
According to the opposition conservative union CDU/CSU, however, the government is not going far enough, CDU Chairman Friedrich Merz demands, for example, the rejection of migrants directly at the border.
The head of the sister CSU and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, in turn, called for Germany to reduce the number of asylum applications received below 100,000 per year. It is not clear whether in the end the CDU/CSU will nod to continue negotiations with the government.
According to German statistics, foreigners filed roughly 153,000 asylum applications in Germany by the end of Julyby the end of the year it could be up to 263,000. In 2023, there were 352,000 applications.
Austria will not accept rejected migrants
Austria will not accept any migrants rejected by Germany at its borders. Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told German newspapers Bild and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today.
“Austria will not accept persons who are rejected by Germany. There is no room for maneuver.” Karner stated. According to him, although Germany has the right to send migrants back if another EU country is responsible for their asylum procedure, this requires formal procedures and the consent of the member state concerned. According to Karner, rejecting migrants at the border within the Schengen area as part of controls is not allowed.
Austria is also preparing for elections, the new composition of the lower house of parliament will be voted on on September 29.
