Germany: Border controls are in line with EU rules

2024-09-10 22:52:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Germany has insisted that its decision to carry out border controls on its land borders with nine countries, in order to stop illegal migration, is in line with European Union rules.

Berlin would not take unilateral measures "that would damage the EU", German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, as Poland criticized Germany's decision and the EU called for caution after arguing that border controls could be applied only as an "extraordinary" measure.

Feaser announced a day earlier that the border controls, which are currently applied at the borders with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, will also be extended to the borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark. This measure will initially be in force for six months.

The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, condemned this decision, describing it as "unacceptable". He said that Warsaw will also contact other states that are affected by this decision of Berlin "to conduct urgent consultations".

But the German Interior Ministry said that Berlin's decision is in accordance with national and European laws and is "coordinated action within Germany as well as within the EU". The Interior Ministry said that "Germany continues to depend on close cooperation with its neighboring states, for example through joint patrols and joint police centers at the border."

Authorities in Germany are facing pressure to limit the entry of illegal migrants after recent public outrage over several deadly attacks allegedly carried out by Islamist militants.

The conservative opposition party, CDU, and the far-right, AfD, are putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition to address the issue of illegal migration.

The CDU has called for tougher action on the issue, saying Germany should declare a national "emergency" and authorities to turn away undocumented migrants at the border. However, this proposal was rejected by the Government.

Minister Faeser has presented a plan, according to which the police would temporarily detain asylum seekers who have already registered in other EU countries, while the authorities would work quickly to return them to their country.

Police in the EU have access to the Eurodac database, which contains fingerprints and other data on irregular migrants and asylum seekers.

The German Interior Ministry said that according to the proposed plan, the German police, after detaining asylum seekers at the border, would look in Eurodac to see if the detained persons can be identified, detain them and expedite the procedure. expelled./ Rel