Nancy Faeser, the Minister of Interior of Germany, made an announcement in which she said that the country would be maintaining border controls with a couple of regions across the EU.
She went on to add that these regions include Poland, Switzerland, and Czechia. These countries will have to go through border checks for the next two months at least.
As of now, the measures that Germany has in place with the three countries are set to expire on the 15th of December.
However, the Minister of Interior of Germany added that these measures will now be prolonged up until the end of February of 2024.
Border checks
Minister Faeser took to commenting on the move, saying that border controls have been noted to be effective on various occasions.
She further emphasised that due to the extension of controls and their effective implementation, the country has successfully been able to scope out smugglers.
She stipulated that the relevant authorities have also successfully prevented irregular entries of migrants throughout Germany.
For this reason, the country has made a move to maintain internal border controls with Poland, Switzerland, and Czechia, to weed out any more issues.
These border checks were initially introduced in the month of October and were extended due to their effectiveness, up until the 15th of December.
Additional officers were also deployed at the borders at the time to enforce the controls.
The Ministry
Data obtained from the Ministry of Interior of Germany indicated that more than 9,200 unauthorised entries in the country were detected.
This was all due to the border controls that were initially introduced in the month of October.
The same authority further added that in the same period, more than 4,700 unauthorised entries were successfully prevented.
While discussing these figures, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior went on to add that these measures are likely to be working.
On the other hand, Deutsche Welle went on to explain that one of the primary unions of the police in the country, GdP, questioned the effectiveness of the border controls and criticized the measures.
Andreas Robkopf, who belongs to the GdP, also added that despite the stringent measures being taken by the relevant authorities, the police would not be able to handle or reduce the number of people seeking asylum.
He went on to add that it is up to the authorities to provide clarity on the matter and instruct police officers accordingly.
In his words, the police is unclear on whether the have to remain at the borders or be deployed in cities that have a high number of asylum seekers for the purpose of security.
Other countries
Germany is not the only country in the EU that has revealed that it will be keeping border controls for the upcoming months.
Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Czechia, Finland, and Austria are some of the member states on the list with border checks in place.
Slovenia is the most recent country on the list which has announced an extension in its border controls.
