Germany has announced a six-month extension of temporary border controls and has notified the European Union, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday, as he seeks to demonstrate his government’s efforts in addressing irregular migration just days before an upcoming election.
Germany reintroduced border controls in September as part of a tougher stance on migration and cross-border crime after a surge of arrivals, especially from people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East.
Asylum Seekers Primary Target
The controls primarily target asylum seekers coming from neighbouring EU countries, who are subject to the EU’s Dublin rules that require asylum applications to be processed in the first EU country of arrival.
Scholz said data showed his government’s measures were working as the authorities had rejected 47,000 people at borders, asylum applications had dropped by a third in 2024 from 2023 and 1,900 smugglers had been arrested.
With the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) polling second at about 20% in most surveys and migration a top concern for voters before a February 23 election, the main parties are under pressure to show they can tackle the issue.
Migration Bill
Friedrich Merz, once the frontrunner to become Germany’s next chancellor, faced a setback weeks before the national election when 12 of his own legislators withdrew support for a migration bill, causing its failure in parliament.
Merz, whose conservative bloc has held a comfortable lead in the polls throughout the campaign, had already caused dismay within his party by saying the migration law was so important he was prepared to pass it with support from the AfD.
Merz’s Move ‘Entirely Unnecessary’
“This move was entirely unnecessary: Merz had a sizeable lead in the polls, and could have just sailed to the elections,” Thu Nguyen, deputy director of the Berlin-based Jacques Delors Centre, an EU policy think tank, wrote on social media platform Bluesky.
“Instead, he deliberately chose to rely on the support of the AfD to get a majority – twice,” she added, deeming the possibility of a stable German government as “further away than ever” after the vote.
The draft would have restricted family reunifications for some refugees and called for more people to be refused at the border. Two-thirds of the public support stronger immigration rules, according to a recent poll.
(With inputs from Reuters)
