Germany on Monday reintroduced checks at all of its land borders. Photo by Emiel Muijderman/EPA-EFE
Sept. 16 (UPI) — Germany reintroduced temporary checks at all of its land borders on Monday in a move that ruffled the feathers of its neighbors but found strong support among its domestic conservatives. The government on Monday extended checks to its borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark along with those already in effect last week on the borders of Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland.
The move cuts against Europe’s Schengen zone, a passport-free region that includes 25 European Union countries and four others that allow free movement without border checks.
The checks came after the far-right party Alternative fur Deutschland, of AfD, made successful gains in recent elections along with a series of knife attacks where asylum seekers emerged as the suspects.
Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, said the steps are being taken to “protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime,” according to The Guardian.
Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk spoke out against Germany’s checks, calling them “unacceptable.”
During Europe’s migrant crisis from 2015 through 2016, Germany was one of the top countries to accept asylum seekers under Chancellor Angela Merkel. Over that time, Germany absorbed more than one million migrants, but it also sparked a significant anti-immigrant backlash.
Germany’s Council for Migration bucked against the government, saying that the checks come close to violating European Union law.
“The current policy goal of turning back [migrants] seeking protection at Germany’s borders represents a dangerous form of populism in the migration policy debate,” the council said, joining with others who charge the checks are more political.