Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) speaks at a press conference. Photo: Michael Bahlo/dpa
For months it has been disputed whether there should be fixed controls not only on the border from Bavaria to Austria, but also on the border with Poland. The number of illegal entries is increasing.
Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) has renewed his call for permanent controls at the border with Poland in view of the increasing number of people entering the country illegally.
“The forecast for the next few months looks bleak, because Russia will intensify its smuggling activities,” Stübgen told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. He criticized the Federal Minister of the Interior: “In Bavaria, Nancy Faeser has the border checked and illegal refugees sent back. I don’t know what she wants to wait for at the border with Poland.”
Increase in unauthorized entries
The federal police registered more unauthorized entries at all German borders in the first half of the year than in the same period a year earlier. The number rose to 45,338 compared to 29,174.
The increase at the German-Polish border was particularly strong: from 4,592 to 12,331. The number of those who arrived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg doubled compared to the first half of 2022. In Brandenburg it rose from 2819 to 5434. In Saxony, four times as many people came as a year earlier.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) rejects fixed controls for Poland and has strengthened checks on persons regardless of suspicion or cause. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced in early August that the federal government was continuing to carefully monitor developments at the borders.
In dialogue with countries and affected neighboring countries, he proceeds in a way that is appropriate to the situation. A temporary reintroduction of internal border controls in the Schengen area is the “ultima ratio”, i.e. only the last suitable means. All possibilities of domestic and cross-border cooperation should be further developed, as happened with the Czech Republic and Poland.
parties concerned
On May 10, the federal and state governments had agreed to introduce permanently stationed controls, such as those already in place between Bavaria and Austria, depending on the situation at other borders between Germany and neighboring countries.
The First Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei (CDU), sees “numerous indications that Russia and Belarus are abusing migrants to put pressure on the EU,” he was quoted as saying by the “Tagesspiegel”. Although state smuggling is obvious and part of a dangerous strategy, Faeser refuses to act.
SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese was also concerned. “I am concerned about the high number of illegal entries to Germany, especially from Eastern Europe,” said Wiese. Targeted smuggling from Russia and Belarus across the border into Poland and into the European Union must be prevented. (dpa)