Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticized Germany’s decision as “unacceptable” to extend temporary controls at all world borders as part of its response to irregular migration.
He is one of many people from neighboring countries who are criticizing this act. The existing restrictions on some of Germany’s world borders will come into force from next Monday with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark.
The head of the Dutch-German coalition of border communities said it was “shocking”, while Austria’s interior minister insisted that no one would be taken back by Germany.
However, members of the German opposition say Berlin has not gone far enough.
The three parties in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz have been under increasing pressure to respond to the negative results in the state elections in eastern Germany where the issue of immigration has been a major issue.
In Thuringia, Germany’s far-right Alternative came first, with another election coming up in less than two weeks in Brandenburg.
The migration debate has been fueled by the killing of three people at an event in Solingen in western Germany where a failed Syrian asylum seeker was arrested and should have been deported.
The CDU/CSU opposition parties initially said they would participate in a migration conference of government and state leaders on Tuesday, aimed at reaching an agreement on the next steps.
But they left, accusing the government of not paying attention to the proposals to deny asylum seekers at the border.
“It is clear that the federal government is divided internally and cannot agree on effective measures,” said CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
Germany and all its neighbors are part of the borderless Schengen area and under the rules of the European Union temporary controls are allowed as a “last resort average, in exceptional cases” up to six months.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explained that the increased controls will protect against “the serious dangers posed by Islamic terrorism and serious crime”.
Under his plan, which is in place in Germany’s 16 states, police will check whether an asylum seeker has already applied for protection in another EU country and quickly start the process of sending them back if they have.
However, the Polish prime minister had no doubt that these measures were caused by “the internal political situation in Germany … and not by our policy of illegal immigration at our borders”.
Poland has faced an increase in illegal immigration across its border with Belarus since 2021 as part of a “joint war” waged by Belarus and Russia. Most of the immigrants go to Germany.
Donald Tusk told a meeting of Polish diplomats in Warsaw that he would request urgent consultations with all affected countries.
European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said any reintroduction of border checks must be done in accordance with the Schengen code, so while German measures are possible, “this control must be necessary and proportionate”.
In Austria, where the far-right is leading in opinion polls ahead of the September 29 election, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he had ordered the police chief not to return anyone rejected by Germany.
“There is no way to be free,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The mayor of the Dutch border town, Joris Bengevoord, said the region on the border with Germany had already experienced delays during the Euro 2024 football tournament in the summer, when Germany imposed temporary border checks.
“At some border crossings, waiting times were up to half an hour,” said Mr Bengevoord, chairman of the Euregio confederation of German-Dutch border towns.
Dutch transport group TLN has accused Germany of undermining the Schengen agreement.
Some right-wing political leaders in the Netherlands have taken a different view.
“If Germany can do it, why can’t we?” asked Geert Wilders, whose anti-immigrant Freedom Party came first in last year’s Dutch election and is now part of the government. “As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.”
Dilan Yesilgöz of the center-right liberal VVD was also keen on the “very interesting” German plan. It sends a message that the government wants to be in control, he said, even if the political signals themselves are not very helpful.
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