Germany’s decision to impose temporary restrictions on land borders to control irregular immigration comes into effect today, September 16, following a knife attack in the city of Solingen and the rise of the far-right AfD party.
Germany’s decision to tighten controls at all its land borders for six months is difficult to justify legally, deals a blow to Europe’s vital free movement and could seriously test EU unity, political analysts say.
When temporary controls are imposed
However, with the recent populist victory in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, the Solz government is under pressure to take action against immigration. Interior Minister Nancy Feiser announced that temporary controls would be imposed at land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
This will be in addition to restrictions already in place for Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland – the other four of the nine countries with which Germany shares its more than 3,700km border – to control migrant arrivals.
Ms Feser spoke of “targeted” and “smart” checks, reassuring those worried about long delays at the border. The checks would be sampled, the German interior minister said.
Speaking to BILD, the German interior minister said that Berlin does not implement arbitrary national measures that harm Europe, but acts “in close coordination” with its neighbors. He added that the aim is to “further limit irregular immigration, stop traffickers, prevent criminals from operating, identify and prevent Islamists.”
