BERLIN, Sept 9 (Askume) – The German government has announced plans to impose tighter controls on all the country’s land borders, in an effort to tackle irregular migration and protect the public from threats such as Islamist extremism.
Interior Minister Nancy Feather said on Monday that controls on freedom of movement across the wider region – Europe’s Schengen area – would begin on Sept. 16 and initially last for six months.
Fesser said the government has also developed a plan that would allow authorities to send more migrants directly to the German border. However, he did not provide any details about the controversial and legally complex move.
The restrictions are part of a series of measures Germany has taken in recent years to toughen its stance on irregular migration , particularly following a surge in migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is trying to seize the initiative from the opposition right-wing and conservatives, who have won growing support by capitalizing on voters’ concerns about pressure on public services, integration and security.
“We are strengthening internal security and taking a tough stance on irregular migration,” Fesser said, adding that the government has informed the European Commission and neighbouring countries about the necessary control measures.
The suspect in a recent deadly knife attack was a refugee, raising concerns about immigration. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of Solingen in August that killed three people.
Earlier this month, the Alternative for Germany became the first right-wing party to win a state election in Thuringia since World War II , campaigning heavily on immigration.
Polls show it is also a top concern for voters in the state of Brandenburg, where elections are due in two weeks.
The left-wing Social Democrats (SPD) led by Scholz and Fesser are fighting to retain control of the government and the vote is seen as a test of the SPD’s strength ahead of next year’s federal election.
“The government’s intention is to symbolically show Germans and potential immigrants that they are no longer needed here,” said Markus Engler of the German Center for Integration and Migration Studies.
A test for Europe
Germany sheltered more than 1 million people during the 2015-2016 migrant crisis, most of them fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, and its response was swift, immigration experts say.
The situation in the country of 84 million reached a breaking point when it automatically offered asylum to nearly one million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s 2022 invasion, while Germany struggles with an energy and economic crisis.
Since then, the German government has agreed to stricter deportation rules and resumed sending convicted Afghan criminals back to the country, but deportations were suspended due to human rights issues after the Taliban came to power in 2021.
Berlin also announced tighter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland last year. On Monday, the country said the measures, along with border controls with Austria, would allow it to deport 30,000 migrants from October 2023.
Feather said the new model would allow the government to bring back more cases, but she couldn’t talk about that ahead of secret talks with the Conservatives.
If these controls require German authorities to deport large numbers of refugees and migrants from other countries, European unity could be tested.
Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area – which includes the entire bloc except Cyprus and Ireland – can only introduce border checks as a last resort to avoid threats to internal security or public policy.
Germany shares more than 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi) of land borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Kana told Bild newspaper on Monday that Austria would not accept any migrants sent across the border by Germany.
“There’s no scope there,” he said.
Susanne Fratzke of the Migration Policy Institute said these measures would not immediately lead to more migrants being turned back at the border, but could cause more migrants to return to other European countries in the future and could act as a deterrent effect.
The number of asylum applications in Germany fell by 21.7% in the first eight months of this year, according to government data.
