Germany extends border controls another six months

"Germany will extend temporary border controls by a further six months, the interior ministry said Monday, calling the measures necessary in the absence of 'functional European migration policy'. Spot-checks introduced in September 2024 will now be in force until at least mid-September 2026, having already been twice extended, ministry spokesman Leonard Kaminski said. "Local authorities are still overwhelmed," he said. "We have to do more here so that we get to a situation that is sustainable for our country, for our society.""

"Under the Schengen Agreement covering most of western and central Europe, border checks are supposed to have been abolished with limited exceptions for emergencies. Along with several other nations including neighbours such as Poland and Austria, Germany has reintroduced some checks, citing a threat to order and security from uncontrolled migration. READ ALSO: Germany to send soldiers to fortify Poland border The last government under Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz began checks after a series of deadly attacks carried out by foreign nationals shook Germany."

""An overhaul of migration policy has begun, but we haven't reached the end of the road," Kaminski said. "I cannot give you a specific figure in terms of reductions, but quite simply, there needs to be order when it comes to migration policy," he added. In December, Merz had said he expected the measures to end following joint European Union action to better police the bloc's external borders."

Germany will keep temporary spot-checks at internal borders until at least mid-September 2026 after introducing them in September 2024. The interior ministry described the measures as necessary because of an absence of functional European migration policy and said local authorities remain overwhelmed. Several European states, including Poland and Austria, have reintroduced checks under Schengen exceptions for order and security concerns related to uncontrolled migration. The new coalition has increased border police and described an overhaul of migration policy as underway but incomplete. A court ruled in June that the government broke the law when it returned three Somalian asylum seekers to Poland without considering their claims.

Read at The Local Germany