Berlin (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – German Green politicians have issued an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urging for the EU to halt ongoing checks at several German border crossings, which they notice as a breach of the Schengen agreement.
What are the concerns regarding Schengen violations in Germany?
The German government has documented several border crossings for checks as exceptions to the border-free Schengen travel extent to restrain irregular migration, as approved by the code’s rules. With some fearing that the Schengen area is under threat, Germany’s Greens, who are part of the confederation government, have criticised their government’s internal border controls in an open note to von der Leyen.
“We are writing to you today with concerns regarding the stationary border controls introduced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland,” the letter said. After the two sporting events end, stationary border controls must also be ended, they contended.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD/S&D) introduced stationary management at the borders with Czechia, Poland and Switzerland last October amid a peak in illegal border crossings. Checks have been in position at the border with Austria since 2015. Transitory reviews at all German borders during the European football championship and at the Franco-German border during the Olympic Games have also ushered in calls for registering reviews everywhere as permanent exceptions.
What impact do the border controls have on the Schengen area?
The letter claims that the current checks do not concede with the rules for exceptions to Schengen rules. Signatories contain MEPs Anna Cavazzini and Erik Marquardt as well as members of the German parliament Filiz Polat and Marcel Emmerich.
“A new expert report shows that the intended effect of border controls and related reports of success are highly questionable and in many cases not statistically proven,” they noted.
While Faeser has hailed the efficiency of checks, the letter goes on to state that there are signs of evasion, double counting and possibly unfair rejections, noting a Green-commissioned expert review.
This would increase doubts that Germany’s checks concede with the code’s pre-conditions for exceptions, which direct them to be limited in time and to be utilised only as a last resort. Germany’s exceptions have been expanded several times.
The Greens asked the EU Commission to examine compliance in their role as ‘Guardian of the Treaties’ who “must ensure compliance with the law.” They claimed that the checks imposed obligations on people and companies in the border areas, as well as commuters, trade and the police. Other Schengen partners, such as France, Sweden, Norway, and Austria have also presented controls in recent years. Though the EU Commission previously stated it was reviewing the “necessity and proportionality of reintroduced border controls,” it has so far not cracked down.
