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Welcoming culture? That was once in Germany. In 2015, then CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel (69) called on her people to open their arms to the hundreds of thousands streaming across Germany’s borders. In 2023, the parties in our northern neighbor will outdo each other with proposals to make it more difficult for migrants to enter the country.
Even Nancy Faeser (53), the Social Democratic Minister of the Interior, said this weekend that “irregular immigration must be limited” given the record number of refugees at Europe’s borders. This also applies specifically to Switzerland. Controls at our border with Germany will soon be significantly tightened – at least if the German Federal Police Association has its way.
Heiko Teggatz (50), head of the union with more than 100,000 members, tells Blick: “More border staff at the Swiss border would be desirable and appropriate.” The German-Swiss police agreement, which allows the German border police to carry out cross-border checks on trains at Basel’s SBB station or on certain tram lines in Basel, is working very well. “But this agreement alone is not sufficient for other border crossing points.” Teggatz emphasizes that additional staff is needed for stationary checks.
In other words: show your ID again, open the trunk, smile pleasantly.
The figures prove Teggatz is right: according to the German Federal Police, illegal border crossings from Switzerland to Germany have increased dramatically: in 2022, German border guards intercepted migrants in 2020. By 2023 there will already be 7,365.
Police union leader Teggatz is not the only one demanding that Germany regain control of its borders as long as other Schengen countries cannot efficiently control the EU’s external borders. Since last spring, politicians from the CDU and the AfD have been calling for the consistent reintroduction of stationary border controls, including at the Swiss border.
Without systematic checks on the 317 kilometer long border between Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland, it will no longer work, says the CDU Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Strobl (63). And AfD leader Björn Höcke (51) recently called in a Blick interview for the reintroduction of ‘border protection at national borders’ if Europe’s external borders remain so permeable. According to the EU border protection agency Frontex, more than 230,000 migrants have tried to enter Europe irregularly this year, the same number as in 2016.
It would theoretically be possible to reoccupy the old customs booths on the German-Swiss border, even if no internal border controls in the Schengen area are planned. All Germany would have to do is register a temporary exception in Brussels, just as Berlin did in 2015 for the German-Austrian border.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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