Germany’s Brandenburg and Saxony Demand Reinstatement of Border Controls With Poland and Czechia
Through an official letter addressed to the federal Minister of Interior Nancy Faeser on Sunday, the Minister of Interior of Brandenburg, Michael Stübgen, and the Minister of Interior of Saxony, Armin Schuster, required that measures are taken as soon as possible.
“In the context of a similar situation on the borders of Brandenburg with Poland and Saxony’s border with Poland and the Czech Republic, we have jointly appealed to the Minister of Interior to temporarily reinstate stationary control on internal borders [of the EU],” Minister Schuster wrote.
Moreover, Minister Schuster said that if the country wants to retain the freedom of movement within the Schengen Area, the authorities need to properly control the borders, suggesting that stricter rules need to be introduced immediately to prevent migrants from entering irregularly, AtoZSerwisPlus.de reports.
“We expect, therefore, that the federal government will, without delay, introduce stationary border control on internal borders and intensify the activities connected to border protection,” Schuster added.
Just recently, the Union parties of Germany also required that the country reintroduces internal border controls with the Czech Republic as well as Switzerland.
The Christian Democratic and the Christian Social Union said that internal border controls with these two countries are necessary in order to combat the increasing number of irregular entries into the country.
The parliament member from the Christian Democratic Union, Christoph de Vries, said that the number of irregular arrivals from Switzerland and the Czech Republic had registered an upward trend recently and stressed that the municipalities are already overburdened.
The chairman of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, also commented on the matter, saying that the high number of irregular migrants is putting pressure on Germany’s asylum system.
“We urgently need consistent protection of Europe’s external borders and consistent returns,” Merz wrote on his official Twitter account earlier in April.
Currently, Germany has existing internal border controls with Austria, and it just recently decided to extend this measure until November.
Data provided by the authorities show that the border controls have prevented more than 14,670 people from entering Germany irregularly in 2022.
For this reason, the authorities continue calling the other member states of the European Union and the EU bodies to take measures jointly and to use all instruments for the management as well as the control of irregular migration to the bloc.
