In the fight against smuggling crime, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is examining short-term stationary border controls at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. “Appropriate additional border police measures are currently being examined,” a spokesman for the ministry told the German Press Agency, referring to an interview with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
The SPD politician told “Welt am Sonntag” when asked whether there would be short-term stationary border controls at the Polish and Czech borders: “In my view, this is an opportunity to combat smuggling crime more aggressively.”
Proposal previously rejected several times
Such additional controls would have to go hand in hand with the surveillance of the entire border area by the veil search. “To this end, we have already significantly increased the presence of the federal police on the Polish and Czech borders,” said the SPD’s top candidate for the Hesse state elections on October 8th
Faeser added: “But one should not suggest that no more asylum seekers will come as soon as there are stationary border controls.” If a person asks for asylum at the border, the asylum application must be examined in Germany. The protection of the EU’s external borders remains crucial, “which we achieve with the common asylum system”.
The minister had already said on Wednesday when the federal government was questioned in the Bundestag: “To combat smugglers, it can actually be right to carry out short-term stationary border controls. That is absolutely right.”
Cooperation with neighboring countries
Recently, Faeser had repeatedly rejected the Union’s demand for stationary border controls, for example at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. They would tie up too many staff and would be “purely symbolic politics, also in view of the AfD’s high poll numbers,” she said. It is better “to be present everywhere in the border areas – with teams from the federal police and other border police.”
In the “Welt am Sonntag” interview, Faeser emphasized that there is “already excellent cooperation” with Switzerland: “Federal police officers, in close coordination with Swiss police forces, are also allowed to control Swiss territory and prevent unauthorized entry. There could be something similar with the Czech Republic “The arrangements for this are already underway,” she told the newspaper.
In the Bundestag today, the CDU and CSU tried to put pressure on Faeser and the federal government with a motion under the heading “Germany Pact in Migration Policy – Stop Irregular Migration”. They called for stationary border controls to be introduced at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, following the example of the border with Austria.
CDU spokesman: “The pressure of a state election is probably more effective”
The Union had previously submitted an application to the Bundestag as its own proposal for a Germany pact on migration. Following the example of the border with Austria, stationary border controls should also be introduced at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
The domestic policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Alexander Throm (CDU), said in the evening about Faeser’s statements: “It would be high time for it to come, but many months too late. You can see that the opposition is effective. But the pressure of a state election is probably more effective.”
