“Germany Contemplates Introducing Stationary Checks at Borders in Response to Migration Crisis”

The document is a draft resolution from Scholz’s meeting with all 16 state premiers, which will take place on Wednesday in Berlin and the topic of which is to be migration. The introduction of stationary checks is being pushed by some federal states, which I find the situation alarming because they are no longer able to handle the influx of refugees. Cities are said to be running out of accommodation capacity and are loudly calling for subsidies from the federal treasury.

Saxony and Brandenburg are striving to restore controls the most. On the contrary, Bavaria has not yet requested them, which was confirmed by state Prime Minister Markus Söder at a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Regensburg on Tuesday. Söder justified this, among other things, by the fact that the Czech Republic itself protects its borders well. Another reason is that Bavaria carries out hidden random checks at the border.

According to the diary Bild, who quoted from the leaked draft resolution, Scholz is apparently ready to give in to the pressure of the regional prime ministers. The situation is said to be dramatic, as the number of refugees increased significantly last year and in the first months of this year. Excluding refugees from Ukraine, the number of arrivals increased by 50 percent compared to 2019, the newspaper quotes from the document.

On the one hand, the draft resolution advocates commitments such as humanitarian aid to refugees, joint financing of the effects of the migration crisis at the European level, repatriation agreements with the countries of origin of migrants and other possible measures such as strengthening the capacities of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).

On the other hand, however, the text hides the announcement of a “brilliant measure”, which, depending on the specific situation, envisages everywhere the introduction of a regime similar to that which has prevailed for a long time on the borders of Germany and Austria. Stationary checks already exist there and concern all passing cars, or passing persons.

At the borders with other countries, the Federal Republic of Germany only applies so-called veiled searches, where police officers – usually in civilian clothes and in civilian cars – check randomly selected vehicles and persons in a thirty-kilometer strip near the border. That may soon change, according to Bild.

“For example, free passage from Saarland to France, as we know it so far, will probably no longer be possible. Assuming Chancellor Scholz agrees to the plan on Wednesday,” the paper wrote. German police unions are also demanding extensive border controls.