Interior minister hails effect of border checks as Germany extends Schengen exception

German interior minister Nancy Faeser (SPD, S&D) has extended controversial checks at the border with Czechia, Poland, and Switzerland on Wednesday for the first time since introducing them last year while praising their effectiveness.

Faced with a rising number of illegal crossings, Germany launched controls at the respective borders last October as an exception to the Schengen area of border-free travel.

While Faeser initially was reluctant to introduce the checks, fearing they would impact cross-border trade, she now appears to have embraced them.

“Since mid-October 2023, the Federal Police have arrested around 920 people smugglers as part of the current internal border controls, including the border with Austria,” Faeser said.

“This shows that our measures are working,” she added.

Due to Schengen rules, Germany has to register an extension of the checks every six months, meaning that the latest extension would have to be renewed in December.

Critics have warned that checks could seriously hurt the Schengen area, which is considered a key achievement of European integration.

However, Faeser previously hinted that checks might be here to stay for longer.

“We will return to a normal situation for Schengen when there are not as many people coming to Germany,” she told reporters in February after a meeting with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johannson.

While the interior ministry pointed out that illegal border crossings had fallen from 21,000 in September to 7,500 in April, total crossings in 2024 are up compared to the same time last year.

Faeser said in February that she expects the recent reform of the European asylum system to reduce numbers, however.

“If we control the external borders, registering people there already, it will ensure that we can have open borders in Europe again,” she said, adding that she believed in the value of Schengen.

(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)

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