Temporary German border controls, set up in September 2024 to combat illegal immigration, will be extended by six months, decided on Wednesday, February 12, Chancellor Olaf Scholz. These controls “effectively reduce irregular migration”, argued the social democratic leader in this announcement made before the legislative elections of February 23 where immigration has imposed itself as a central political subject.
In the name of “internal security” and the fight against illegal immigration, Germany had restored temporary checks at all its borders on September 16, 2024, for a period of six months. The European Commission had then recalled that measures of this type “must remain strictly exceptional” and argued so that they are “proportionate”.
In principle, such internal border controls are prohibited within the Schengen area, but in the event of threats to public order or security, they are possible for a period of six months, with extension for a total duration n ‘not exceeding two years. Berlin “notified the European Commission” of the renewal of the measure from mid-March to mid-September 2025, said Olaf Scholz, quoted in a short press release.
47,000 border repressions
The head of government highlights the efficiency of the measure with “47,000 repressions of the borders, a third of asylum requests in less than 2023 to 2024 and the arrest of 1,900 smugglers”.
His rival Friedrich Merz, chief of the German conservatives and favorite polls to become the next Chancellor, said he wanted to reintroduce permanent border controls with the objective of blocking and repressing all paperless foreigners, including asylum seekers.
But in the event of a victory, he will first have to form a coalition, the option of an agreement with the social democrats being the most likely. On immigration, “we are not so far from each other,” said the magazine on Wednesday Politico The Minister of the Interior Nancy FaeSer, a social democrat decided to “find a compromise” with the conservatives of the CDU.
At the end of January, the CDU/CSU conservative camp presented texts on immigration supported by the alternative party for Germany (AFD) to Parliament, breaking a national taboo on collaboration with the extreme right.