Border Germany – Czech Republic in the Saxon Switzerland (Archive)dts
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Berlin (German news agency) – The pressure on Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is increasing to better secure the German borders towards Poland and the Czech Republic against illegal migration. The representatives of the federal police in the police union (GdP) and the German police union (DPolG) called on Faeser to take action on the matter at EU level as soon as possible.
A so-called notification of border controls at the Polish and Czech borders should create the conditions for acting flexibly. “It is urgently necessary to finally change the legal status of the federal police on the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic,” said the chairman of the GdP district of the federal police, Andreas Rokopf, the “Welt” (Monday edition). Faeser still refuses to deposit the notification required for this change in Brussels. “Therefore, the federal police officers are not allowed to turn anyone back in the East in the event of illegal crossings, unlike in Bavaria.”
At a meeting with Faeser in mid-August, his union wanted to press for a quick notification again, Rokopf said. What is meant by this is a notification of temporary inner-European border controls, which Brussels must approve. Five border crossings between Austria and Bavaria have been notified since 2016. Stationary control posts were set up there.
However, Faeser does not want to set up permanent controls in the direction of Poland and the Czech Republic. However, according to Rokopf, this is not absolutely necessary after a notification. “The example of France shows that a country can list and notify all border crossings.” At the beginning of May, France applied for the reintroduction of internal border controls in Brussels, initially limited to six months, for all borders and also the airspace. “Once the notification has been made, it can be decided flexibly and depending on the situation whether to use fixed checkpoints or veiled investigators,” says Rokopf. However, the latter would then also have the legal authority to reject them, which is currently not the case on the border with the two Eastern European countries. Heiko Teggatz, chairman of the DPolG federal police union, hopes that the step will expand the legal powers of officials. “That triggers a deterrent chain reaction, and that’s what it’s supposed to be. This would signal the Czech Republic, for example, to better protect its borders towards Hungary and Slovakia. Because if you arrive at the German-Czech border, you may have already traveled through four EU countries without Applying for asylum. For me as a practitioner, that means something isn’t working properly here in Schengen.” Last year, 15,000 people were turned away at the Bavarian-Austrian border.
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