The German government has ordered that spot passport checks be extended to all its land borders from Monday morning. Euronews spoke to a migration expert to discuss the reasons behind the decision and how effective the checks are.
German border police are carrying out spot passport checks at all land borders from Monday morning.
Queues are expected at the borders, particularly in northern and western Germany, with road transport companies and cross-border commuters preparing for longer waiting times.
Svenja Niederfrankea migration specialist at German Council on Foreign Relationsexplains the reasons.
“The German government wants to show that it is doing something and with the upcoming elections and the past elections, this is a very important political signal, of course, and it signals that we are taking back control of our borders. ” she told Euronews.
A series of deadly knife attacks migrant violence in Germany in recent months has sparked public anger and is widely seen as contributing to the strong gains of anti-migrant far-right and far-left parties in two recent elections in eastern German states. With the third largest state, Brandenburg, heading to the polls in just under a week, recent polls show that safety and security are top of mind for citizens. German federal elections are also scheduled for next year.
Last week, the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeserordered that passport controls already in place at the Austrian, Polish, Swiss and Czech borders be extended to the western and northern borders of Germany, and to the French, Danish, Luxembourgish, Dutch and Belgian borders.
30,000 people turned back at the border with Austria since October 2023
Nancy Faeser said last week that Germany had 30,000 turned back people at the Austrian border since October 2023, but Svenja Niederfranke warns that this figure is not very meaningful, because it does not represent the total number of people banned from entering Germany.
“We really have to be careful with this figure of 30,000, because it does not mean that these people never entered Germany. It simply means that at some point the German police turned them back, and for various reasons. The German police can turn back someone who does not have valid documents, a valid visa, etc. The figure of 30,000 can also mean that someone forgot their passport and is allowed to enter later with valid documents, but they are still counted in this figure,” she explains.
Are these controls likely to be effective?
“Research has shown that with these border controls, it is usually not the big fish that get caught, but the smaller ones. And not all smugglers get caught either, because they obviously know where the border controls are and they find other ways to do it.“, adds Svenja Niederfranke.
However, following the previous knife attack at the diversity festival in Solingenwhich left three dead and eight injured, the suspect of Syrian origin had been returned to Bulgaria last year, but police did not find him in his shelter when they went to deport him.
Svenja Niederfranke warns of the many negative effects of these controls, especially since the EU, in the Schengen area, enjoys freedom of movement within the external borders. Transport companies, including freight, and commuters who live in a country and cross the border are likely to be affected by long queues at the border.
“People have to travel back and forth to work or transport goods. Of course, it is very annoying to be stuck at border control every day.“.
She adds that lawyers are closely examining the possibility of turning back asylum seekers at the German border and say that this is not legal under European law.
Ms Niederfranke also says the cost and the amount of personnel needed to be deployed to the German border is also a negative effect.
She draws attention to the federal police officers who will be transferred, despite the shortage of personnel within the police. A police union is demanding the rapid creation of 5,000 additional posts for this task.
“The cost is obviously very high to set up the infrastructure necessary to deploy these police officers.” she explains.
The political impact of these increased controls
With Poland, Greece and Austria having strongly criticised the German government’s decision to introduce these controls, the fabric of the EU risks being destabilised.
According to Svenja Niederfranke, although Austria has been very harsh in its condemnation of the increased controls and has said it will not cooperate, there have been border controls between Austria and Germany for years, but part of the outcry may be linked to the fact that elections are taking place in Austria in September.
On the other hand, the decision to extend these controls was welcomed by Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who felt “that (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz is now coming round to his policy, which I don’t think the German government necessarily wants.“.
She also claims to have heard that EU officials were not happy with the checks.
“When it comes to the discussions on the new pact, the reform of the European asylum system, Germany was also a more progressive voice and now it is backtracking a bit. So it is not really a clear line of conduct from the German government and that frustrates a lot of European partners.“.
Could the EU block these controls and take Germany to court?
“The Commission is always unhappy when a Member State introduces temporary border controls, because this goes against the idea of the European Union and the idea of the Schengen area.” explains Ms. Niederfranke.
The border controls were introduced as a “last resort” against terrorism, but there is a possibility that the EU will consider them illegal and take Germany to court.
“IThere are very precise rules on when a Member State can introduce temporary border controls.” she explains. “Today, it is easier to argue for the introduction of border controls. It is also possible to keep them in place for longer. But as a Member State, you must always assert the existence of a serious threat to public order or security. It is therefore on this basis that the introduction of these border controls must be justified.“.
Ms Niederfranke believes it is unlikely that the Commission will take Germany to court, given previous examples of member states introducing internal border controls.
“Even if the Commission considers this measure illegal, it remains to be seen whether it will take Germany to court. And with a Commission that also shifted slightly to the right in the last EU parliamentary elections, I would say it is unlikely that it will take this measure.“.
If the EU decides to take Germany to court, it can be expected to announce it within the next two months.
However, with the number of asylum applications down 20% compared to last year, it might be difficult to argue that Germany needed to introduce checks as a last resort.
How does the asylum procedure work?
One of the most common misconceptions in the media concerns how the asylum procedure works according to Dublin rules.
Svenja Niederfranke explains that “It is not necessarily the first place a person arrives that they apply for asylum.. There is also a catalogue of issues, for example if the person is an unaccompanied minor, if they have close family members in another Member State, or if a spouse has applied for asylum in another Member State, then that Member State would also be responsible for the spouse. Similarly, if a visa has been granted in the past by another Member State, that Member State is also responsible.. If none of these answers apply, the country in which the person was first registered, with their fingerprints, is responsible..” she said.
It happens that people are not registered in Italy or Greece and then arrive, for example, in Austria, where they have no family members in other states and have not previously received a visa from a Member State.” she adds.
“The Dublin system is therefore a little more complicated, but it is nonetheless true that it is the border and external countries that are responsible for most asylum applications in the European Union. And that has not changed with the new reform. What has changed is that we wanted to make the system a little more balanced and introduce what is called the solidarity mechanism..”
This year, the EU asylum system was reformed and now means that member states that take in fewer asylum seekers “must contribute in a different way. They can decide to welcome, resettle or relocate people from Italy“, For example.
“But they can also say that they will pay. So they will make a financial contribution. In most cases, Italy refuses to take back asylum seekers.”