The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community today informed the European Commission that it has ordered the temporary reintroduction of border control at Germany’s land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark for six months, starting 16 September 2024. This means that border checks will be possible at all of Germany’s land borders starting on that date. The complete package of stationary and mobile border policing measures, including the possibility to refuse entry at the border, will be applied at all of Germany’s land borders as allowed by EU and national law.

The grounds for ordering temporary border control are the need to limit irregular migration further and to protect Germany’s internal security. With regard to irregular migration, Germany’s overall burden must be taken into account, especially the limited capacity of municipalities to provide housing, education and integration services, after taking in 1.2 million refugees from the war in Ukraine and large numbers of asylum seekers in recent years. The current security environment is also crucial, particularly the need to protect against Islamist extremist terrorism and serious cross-border crime.

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said: "We are taking concrete action to reinforce our internal security, and we are taking a hard line against irregular migration. We are continuing to pursue this course. Until the new Common European Asylum System and other measures ensure strong protection for the EU’s external borders, we must also do more to control our national borders. These border control measures include effective refusals of entry at the border – more than 30,000 people have been denied entry at the land borders with Poland, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic just since October 2023. That is why we will expand our temporary border control to include all of Germany’s land borders, as I ordered today. 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 includes the wide-ranging measures we are now taking.

“The Federal Police can now apply the complete package of stationary and mobile border policing measures along the entire German border. I am extremely grateful to the officers of the Federal Police for their strong commitment to policing the border. These efforts are only possible because we have increased funding and added a thousand officers each year, and we will continue to do so.

 “Coordinating with our neighbouring countries remains our high priority, as does minimising the impacts on commuters and on daily life in the border regions as far as possible."

The border policing measures will continue to be carried out as required by the situation and flexibly in terms of time and place. This should also help prevent migrant smugglers from using alternative routes.

The Federal Police are working closely and on the basis of trust with their partner authorities in Germany’s neighbouring countries. Cross-border police cooperation includes joint patrols as well as police and customs cooperation centres, among other things.

Checks at Germany’s land border with Austria are currently in place until 11 November 2024, while the order to conduct checks at the land borders with Switzerland, the Republic of Poland and the Czech Republic remains in force until 15 December 2024. These temporary border control measures will be continued and their scheduling coordinated.

Since the temporary border checks were reintroduced at Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland on 16 October 2023, the Federal Police have detected approximately 52,000 illegal entries and refused entry to some 30,000 people at Germany’s borders. Entry is currently denied to people who do not have valid entry documents, who present forged or falsified documents, or who attempt to enter without a visa or valid residence title.

The temporary ordering of border control at the Schengen internal borders is based on Article 25  and subsequent articles of the Schengen Borders Code. These provisions of EU law always require a serious threat to public order or security and allow the temporary reintroduction of border control at the internal borders only for a limited period of time and as a last resort.