Germany reinstates border controls to curb irregular migration

Germany reestablished controls on all its borders on Monday to combat the migration illegal, a controversial measure planned for six months that could unleash a domino effect and new tensions within the European Union (UE).

Berlin added police controls -mobile and fixed- with Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Denmark to those already established in the limits with Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland.

Although these records are prohibited inside the Schengen area a free movement zone that includes 25 of the 27 EU member states along with other countries, can be established temporarily due to threats to public order or security. Its initial duration is six months, with extensions not to exceed two years.

The European Commission He recalled that these measures “must be strictly exceptional” while urging them to be “balanced”.

The German government claimed the need for “protection of internal security against current threats of the Islamist terrorism and the cross-border crime”.

Germany The country has been the victim of a series of Islamist attacks committed by foreigners in recent weeks. Among them, a knife attack at the end of August in Solingen (west), perpetrated by a Syrian and claimed by the Islamic State which left three dead.

Since then, the Chancellor’s Government Olaf Scholz tightened immigration measures in a complicated electoral context, with a strong rise of the extreme right in two regional elections in early September.

This marked a change from the asylum policy of previous years, which allowed the reception of More than a million refugees during the migration crisis of 2015 and more than a million Ukrainian exiles from 2022.