Germany extends fixed border controls by three months
Published: Friday, Dec 15th 2023, 14:40
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The stationary controls at the German borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, which were ordered for the first time in mid-October, are to be continued until at least March 15 of next year.
In order to combat smuggling crime even more effectively and limit irregular migration, the controls will be continued and have been notified to the European Commission accordingly, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Friday.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: "Our measures are working." Thanks to the temporary border controls and measures closely coordinated with neighboring countries, the number of unauthorized entries nationwide had fallen by more than 60 percent from over 20,000 in October to around 7,300 unauthorized entries in November.
Faeser had extended the border controls several times for shorter periods of time since their introduction on October 16. The stationary internal border controls at the German-Austrian border, which began in the fall of 2015, currently run until May 11, 2024.
Border controls are not actually planned within the Schengen area and must be reported to Brussels. If it is only a few days, this can be done with a short notice period. However, this option ends after two months, in the case of Germany on December 15.
©Keystone/SDA
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