German police unions have described as “impossible to implement” a new regime of spot checks on the country’s nine national borders from Monday.
The push to crack down on irregular migration comes a week before a third state election this month and another likely win for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
As well as pre-existing checks on borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland – renewed by Berlin every few months as “temporary” measures – Monday saw new checks on borders with Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Germany has the most national borders of all EU members and its new checks represent the most serious challenge yet to the EU’s Schengen free travel regime, introduced in 1995.
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Federal interior minister Nancy Faeser said her decision to temporarily set aside Schengen area open-border measures was because the numbers of irregular arrivals posed a security risk from “Islamist terrorism” and threatened “solidarity efforts of communities” required to house and provide for them.
On Monday she reiterated the measures were temporary and promised a minimum of disruption and tailbacks for cross-border commuters.
Federal police, who will carry out most of the checks, have promised to act “flexibly, based on the situation on the ground”.
“This is not a national solo run that will destroy Europe,” said Ms Faeser, “instead we are acting in a co-ordinated fashion with our neighbours.”
Many of Germany’s neighbours beg to differ, saying they learned of the plans last week through the media.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz hit back at such criticism over the weekend. He told an election rally in Brandenburg on Sunday that Germany was acting in this way because “sadly, we cannot rely entirely on all of our neighbours doing what they should, that’s also the truth”.
His government’s shift on migration has come after a series of violent attacks, including a knife attack last month that left three people dead. The chief suspect, a Syrian national, first filed for asylum in Bulgaria and then in Germany, from where he was not deported even after his application was rejected.
Berlin officials say the new check regime is about preventing “asylum shopping”, a breach of the so-called Dublin rules, until a pan-EU asylum system comes into place in June 2026.
German police unions have warned that their members are not suited to being an asylum stopgap, or political placebo in advance of elections.
“We are already at our limit, both in terms of personnel and equipment,” said Andreas Rosskopf, border section head of the police union. He said many members had reported for their first border duty shifts at midnight on Monday “with their doubts”.
“Germany’s western border alone is 1,400km,” he added. “With sporadic checks you will hardly impress a well-organised trafficking organisation that can respond within hours.”
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