Germany extends temporary controls at border crossings with Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland for six more months

May 29. () –

The German Ministry of the Interior reported this Wednesday that the temporary controls at border crossings with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, which were in force until mid-June, will be extended for another six months, until December 15.

The German Government imposed this measure last October with the aim of “combating smuggling and limiting irregular migration.” These restrictions are in addition to those previously imposed on the border with Austria, and whose validity expires in mid-November.

“Since October 2023, 920 smugglers have been arrested on these three borders and on the border with Austria,” the Ministry of the Interior detailed in a statement. The head of the portfolio, Nancy Faeser, has highlighted the work of the German Government to “stop the unscrupulous business of smugglers and limit irregular migration.”

Likewise, since the entry into force of these restrictions, the German Federal Police has detected nearly 37,600 unauthorized entries across the aforementioned borders and has implemented some “23,000 measures to prevent entry or end residence.”

“The number of unauthorized entries detected throughout the country fell from around 21,000 in September 2023 to around 7,500 in April 2024,” the Interior portfolio has stressed.

As the German Executive detailed months ago, this measure grants the Federal Police the power to flexibly deploy “the entire set of fixed and mobile border police measures, depending on the situation at any given time”, although all this trying to ensuring that controls “affect as little as possible” trade and travel.

Within the borders of the Schengen area, returns of people to their countries of origin are only permitted if the temporary reestablishment of border controls is previously notified to the European Commission, a procedure that Berlin has already carried out.