Germany has introduced temporary land border controls along all nine of its neighbouring countries. Germany already had temporary border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland. However, starting on September 16, the border controls extended to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

The German Interior Federal Ministry called these measures necessary to “limit irregular migration and protect Germany’s internal security”. Speaking to the press, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, “My order is also intended to protect against the acute threat of Islamist extremist terrorism and serious cross-border crime. We are doing everything in our power to protect the people of our country against these threats.”

This is an exceptional situation as Germany, the most populous of the European Union countries, is located at the centre of the Schengen Area, which abolished internal border controls. For EU citizens and tourists visiting the Schengen Area (with a valid visa), crossing land borders between the 29 nations in the Schengen regions does not involve passport checks, except in special situations. That is set to change in Germany for at least the next six months.

EU member states can introduce border controls under certain conditions after getting the green signal from the EU Commission. They are only allowed to have them for six months, after which they can be renewed for up to a maximum of three years, according to recent changes in the Schengen Borders Code. Border checks had reached their peak during the COVID-19 pandemic when all EU countries had them.

A political knee-jerk reaction?

Immigration has been a leading political issue in Germany since its former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the doors to welcome a million Syrian refugees in 2015-16. Since then, anti-immigrant sentiment has been in lock-step with the rise in popularity of anti-immigrant political parties such as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the left-conservative Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) that was formed this year.

The head of the AfD, Alice Weidel, recently called for a five-year ban on immigration and naturalisation in an interview with a state broadcaster. In the recently concluded elections in the States of Saxony and Brandenburg, AfD came in second overall, and in the State of Thuringia, AfD was the largest party. In fact, AfD leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been called a Nazi given his extremist views.

The impressive numbers won by AfD and also the BSW, have once again put a question mark on the ruling coalition comprised of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), environmental Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP). With national election in Germany slated for 2025, the performance by these three nationally ruling parties has been dismal in State elections, with SPD’s win in Brandenburg being the only exception.

Svenja Niederfranke, research fellow at the Center for Migration at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) noted that the knife attack in the northwestern German city of Solingen has changed the German political approach towards migration.

On 23 August, a Syrian national was involved in a knife attack in Solingen that allegedly left three people dead and wounded eight. The Islamic State group later claimed the attack. It also came to light that this Syrian national was supposed to be sent to Bulgaria after his asylum bid was rejected, which Germany failed to do.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it a terrorist attack. “We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” said Mr. Scholz.

“The Solingen attack became a political issue and some have begun protesting against this failure. The Opposition is saying that we should do away with accepting such migrants, but that is not in line with the EU laws on migration and asylum,” said Ms. Niederfranke.

The regulation surrounding asylum in the EU is known as the Dublin Regulation, according to which the first EU country that an asylum seeker enters is responsible for the application process. However, Germany has claimed that these regulations do not work in practice.

“The border control expansion on the west and north are not main migratory pathways into Germany, so the political messaging does not make much sense (to have border controls) there,” said Ms. Niederfranke.

The new measures have drawn criticism from PRO Asyl, a German pro-immigration advocacy organisation.

“They (border controls) may be used to deny people the right to seek asylum in Germany. It is clear that Germany cannot simply send people seeking protection back to the country from which they are trying to enter, as refoulement (the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers) at internal borders is against EU law,” said Wiebke Judith, legal policy spokesperson for PRO Asyl noting that it is getting difficult for asylum seekers in Germany with the rise of right-wing populism.

PRO Asyl also expresses concern that the German government is falling for the bait of right-wing populists regarding migration.

Neighbour responses

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed the move and posted on X, “Germany has decided to impose strict border controls. Bundeskanzler Scholz, welcome to the club!”

According to Ms. Niederfranke, it is not great optics for Germany to be clubbed with Hungary when its leader is praising German migration policies.

According to Ms. Judith, “The German government seems to start following the deplorable example of other EU member states, trying to scare off refugees by treating them badly. This is why they openly discuss push-backs at German borders and are trying to deny even basic social support to some asylum seekers – even though this could clearly violate the German Constitution.”

Poland and Austria have called this move unfair and say it goes against the EU law of open borders. Vienna has even gone so far as to say that it will not accept any migrants turned away by Germany at its borders with Austria.

Ms. Niederfranke noted that Austria’s loud criticism should be seen in the context of its national elections. The far-right Austrian Freedom Party won the national election on Sunday

“Regarding Austria, yes, it has criticised Germany’s decision. We do not know how much of this sentiment is meant for political purposes. But Germany and Austria have collaborated well when it came to dealing with rejected asylum seekers in the past – in fact, within the EU, Germany sent back most rejected asylum seekers to Austria,” she said. However, she noted cooperation between member states is crucial and Germany cannot afford to ruin relations with its neighbours.

Increase in racial profiling?

While the Interior Ministry has said that the border checks would involve random spot checking at the borders and would not disrupt traffic and movement, the fears of racial profiling have started to increase.

“Many people are scared that this could increase racial profiling. There is definitely a risk of that happening. But if one has valid documents, the German police has to let you in,” said Ms. Niederfranke.

According to Ms. Judith, there could be indications of illegal refusals of entry at the German border. “In recent years, the existing border controls have been used to deny entry to many people, for example from Syria and Afghanistan. It is hard to believe that so many people from the main countries of origin of asylum seekers in Germany did not actually want to apply for asylum in Germany. This is an indicator that there may be illegal refusals of entry. We are afraid that this practice will be repeated at other borders,” said Ms. Judith.

One argument that is often heard is that the German bureaucracy is overloaded with asylum applications and it cannot keep up. While Germany still gets the most asylum applications (22% of all in Europe), according to the Interior Ministry records, first-time asylum seeker numbers have dropped by 19% in the first six months of 2024. As compared to over 3,50,000 applications in 2023, till August this year there were over 1,53,000 applications.

Ms. Niederfranke said that combining the rise in extremism with migration policies is not helpful. “How threats can be brought down is a more nuanced issue that needs investigation. There have to be different measures to fight extremism. There are many people holding German passports who are also committing extremist acts.”

The temporary border controls across all of the nine German neighbours will continue till March 2025.

(Nimish Sawant is an independent journalist based in Berlin)