2024-07-04 04:36:23
Because of the European Championship, temporary controls are in place at German borders. The FDP is now calling for these to be extended for another year.
The FDP wants to extend the stationary controls at all German external borders by the federal police for a year. Previously, the plan was to only carry out these extensive controls until shortly after the end of the European Football Championship in mid-July. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told “Bild”: “Stationary border controls have proven their worth. Their results are impressive. This is a real contribution to limiting irregular migration to Germany. An extension for a year after the European Championship is therefore necessary.”
Because of the football tournament, temporary controls will initially apply at all German Schengen internal borders until July 19. In addition, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced at the end of May that it would extend the stationary controls at the land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, which have been in place since autumn 2023, by six months until mid-December. The reason given for this was to combat people smuggling and limit irregular migration. Border controls at the German-Austrian land border have been in place since autumn 2015.
According to the Federal Police, around 830,000 checks were carried out in the first three weeks of the measures taken to mark the European Championships, and 603 outstanding arrest warrants were executed. 150 people smugglers were temporarily arrested and 146 people who had already been deported at an earlier time were turned away.
However, the police union (GdP) in Brandenburg does not see any significant effect in reducing irregular migration in view of the permanent controls at the Polish border. From a police tactical point of view, stationary controls would not achieve the same effectiveness as possible mobile controls, it said.