Germany wants to install police checkpoints on its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic to stop the wave of illegal migration from the East, as German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser confirmed in an interview with the Funke media group.
“We are working on these new measures in order to integrate them into the already intensive border surveillance system against human traffickers,” explained the Social Democratic minister, who, like Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has so far shied away from introducing controls that have already been in place at the border since November 2022 Austria, with prior notification to Brussels.
Police checks in this part of the Bavarian countryside are random, and it is currently unclear what checks at the Polish and Czech borders would look like, whether random or fixed. The latter are considered too disruptive for the usual intensive traffic of vehicles and goods between the countries of the Schengen area and the government made up of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals fears that their installation will slow down the supply chain and damage the economy. German economy. The German executive is therefore aiming to square the circle.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, both Social Democrats, at an event in Baunatal (state of Hesse) on September 23rd
Kai Pfaffenbach / Portal
Minister Nancy Faeser said she had already discussed the possibility of controls with her Czech counterpart and would discuss the matter with the Polish minister at the meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels this Thursday. “We are preparing additional controls at our borders with Poland and the Czech Republic to stop the smugglers,” said Faeser, “in order to take well-coordinated measures” that could be agreed upon by the end of the week. “My goal is maximum investigative pressure on human traffickers and the protection of people who cross borders in life-threatening conditions, often without water and hardly any oxygen,” argued the minister.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan initially reacted positively to the proposal and announced that an approach similar to that with Switzerland was being considered. “German police officers have the right to monitor migration on the Czech side of the border together with Czech police officers,” said Rakusan, announcing that there would be “shocking actions” against human traffickers.
According to the German Federal Police, agents intercepted 45,338 foreigners who entered illegally via land, sea and airport borders in the first half of 2023 (56% more than in the same period last year), including 12,331 via the German border. Polish border. Most come from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Georgia and Russia and arrived via the Belarusian route.
Also read MARÍA-PAZ LÓPEZ | BERLIN. CORRESPONDENT