The renewed border control will come into effect on September 16 and will initially last for six months.
Fezer has already informed the European Commission (EC) accordingly.
Border control is designed as a tool for limiting illegal immigration, as well as fighting Islamist terrorism and cross-border crime.
The already long-running debate on stopping illegal immigration has intensified in recent weeks after another Islamist attack in Solingen, in which three people were murdered.
The killer turned out to be a Syrian who avoided deportation to Bulgaria, whose border he first crossed when entering the European Union (EU) illegally.
All countries bordering Germany are in the Schengen free travel zone and border controls have been abolished on their mutual borders.
However, already in October 2023, in order to limit illegal immigration, Germany restored border control on the border with Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland.
On the other hand, border control on the border with Austria was restored already in 2015.
Although border control has been restored only for the time being, the German government is constantly extending it.
Now border control will also be restored on the border with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Sources say that the coalition government, made up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FPD), has also prepared a plan for a wider rejection of illegal immigrants at the border, demanded by the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party – Christian Social Union (CSU).
Sources say that Fezer has given her proposals to the opposition and invited the conservatives to secret talks on this issue.
After the Solingen massacre, Scholz also invited representatives of the CDU/CSU and all 16 federal states to consultations. Sources allow that the negotiations could resume as early as Tuesday. Further details of the proposed plan are not yet known.
Currently, illegal immigrants are turned away at the German border only in certain limited cases, for example, if they are denied entry into the country or if they do not claim asylum.
According to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, more than 30,000 illegal immigrants have been rejected at the border since October.
There have been proposals to reject all foreigners without documents, as well as those who have already requested asylum in another country.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, who represents the CSU, has demanded that all illegal immigrants be turned away at the border.
“We must massively reduce immigration,” Zeder emphasized on Monday while addressing local political leaders. “It needs to be addressed now.”
He has also called for the mass deportation of those illegal immigrants who have been refused asylum or who have otherwise lost their right to stay in Germany.
FDP leader and Finance Minister Kristians Lindner also admitted that it is the government’s duty to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
The Greens, meanwhile, are far more wary of plans to bar anyone who wants to seek asylum in Germany.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annaléna Burbock, warned on Monday that meeting the conservative demands could threaten the fragile EU-wide compromise reached in the implementation of a common asylum policy.
2024-09-10 22:03:29