They will last for another half a year
The Ministry of the Interior in Berlin announced the extension of stationary checks at Germany's borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for another six months. This decision was taken to combat human smuggling and curb illegal migration.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the extension of border controls until December 15 has already been notified to the European Commission.
Initially, the head of the German Interior Ministry, Nancy Faeser, was skeptical about the appeals of some federal states for permanent border controls, but she eventually gave in. The inspections were ordered in mid-October 2023 and have been regularly extended since then.
Faeser said on Wednesday that since mid-October 2023, police have detained approximately 920 people smugglers under current internal border controls, including at the border with Austria. German police also detected around 37,600 illegal entries at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Austria since October 16, according to the Interior Ministry, taking measures to prevent entry or end stays in around 23,000 cases. The number of unauthorized entries detected nationwide dropped from around 21,000 in September last year to around 7,500 in April this year.
Checks on the German-Austrian land border have been ongoing since autumn 2015 and are scheduled to continue until November 11.
Additionally, random checks will be carried out on all sections of the German border during the European Football Championship in Germany.
source: PAP
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