Tue, Nov 14th 2023
The stationary controls at Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland will be extended by a further 20 days on Wednesday. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser informed the EU Commission of this on Tuesday.
According to their ministry, the federal police have caught around 90 people smugglers at these borders since October 16.
“Our bundle of stationary and mobile border police measures is important to curb irregular migration to Germany,” said Faeser. We remain in close contact with neighboring countries and the federal states concerned to ensure that all measures on both sides of the border work together as effectively as possible. Faeser emphasized: “At the same time, we continue to attach particular importance to ensuring that the controls have as little impact as possible on the everyday lives of commuters, on trade and on travel.”
The minister initially announced fixed border controls at these sections for ten days on October 16 and then extended them once by 20 days. She justified this step with the fight against irregular immigration and people smuggling.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, around 6900 unauthorized entries have been detected by the German Federal Police at these three land borders alone since the start of the controls and “around 2800 measures have been taken to prevent unauthorized entries and end unauthorized stays”.
Faeser said that she wanted to return to internal borders as quickly as possible, where no controls were necessary. The reform of the Common European Asylum System with comprehensive protection of the EU’s external borders was “the central step” towards this. The German government is working intensively to finalize the EU legislation on this.
Temporary stationary controls have been in place at the land border between Germany and Austria since fall 2015 and have been repeatedly extended since then.
©Keystone/SDA
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