Germany’s centre-left government has decided to impose temporary land border restrictions aimed at controlling irregular migration in the wake of a knife attack and electoral gains made by a far-right party.
The new curbs, announced by the government on Monday, come days after the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) won elections to the eastern state of Thuringia and came a close second in the neighbouring state of Saxony. Those elections were held in the shadow of a knife attack, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker, that killed three people in the western city of Solingen.
Here’s more on the latest measures adopted by the country – the European Union’s largest economy – and the context behind the decision:
What are Germany’s plans?
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Monday that the controls will start on September 16 and initially last for six months with the option of being renewed.
Temporary controls are to be imposed at land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
This will add to restrictions already in place for Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland – the other four of the nine countries with which Germany shares its more than 3,700km-long (2,300-mile-long) border – to check arrivals of immigrants.
The additional checks for the border with Austria are currently in place until November while measures for Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic are slated to remain in force until at least December.
Germany has informed the European Commission and the neighbouring countries, which are all part of the Schengen Area, the Europe-wide free movement zone, about its plans to impose tighter controls.
The rules for the 29 Schengen nations stipulate that “reintroduction of border control at the internal borders must be applied as a last resort measure, in exceptional situations, and must respect the principle of proportionality”.
Faeser said the government has drawn up plans to allow local authorities to directly reject and turn away migrants at the borders, a measure that could prove controversial and could face legal challenges. The interior minister did not provide any details.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, under pressure from the far right, has gradually been sharpening his rhetoric on immigrants. He has promised to deport immigrants accused of committing serious crimes.
Germany deported 28 Afghan nationals charged with criminal acts on August 30, the first time it restarted the practice after the 2021 return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan following a withdrawal by the United States.
What’s the reasoning?
Faeser said Germany is going beyond the European Union’s controls and tightening up security internally to be better prepared against “irregular migration” and what she called “Islamist terrorism and serious crime”.
“We are doing everything we can to better protect people in our country against this,” she said.
The chorus of voices opposed to immigration has considerably grown in Germany since the country of 84 million people automatically granted asylum to about one million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s 2022 invasion as it faced energy and economic challenges.
Nearly 10 years ago, Germany was hailed by many as a beacon of empathy for taking in more than a million refugees, many from Syria, under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. But Germany also has an economic rationale for encouraging immigration: Experts said the country needs about 1.5 million immigrants each year as its workforce declines because of an ageing society and flat population growth.
What’s changed?
Riding on a cocktail of economic and cultural grievances during a cost of living crisis, the far-right AfD has often accused the government of being soft on immigrants. Its win in regional elections this month marked the first victory for a far-right party in Germany since World War II.
Immigration is a major issue in the state of Brandenburg as well, where elections are due in two weeks. Federal elections will be held next year. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Scholz and Faeser will be fighting to retain control in Brandenburg in a test before the national vote.
In 2023, the number of people applying for asylum in Germany rose to more than 350,000, signalling an increase of a little more than 50 percent compared with a year earlier. The largest number of asylum seekers came from Syria, followed by Turkey and Afghanistan.
ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the stabbing attack in Solingen last month, an incident that analysts said is expected to feed into anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim xenophobia in Germany.
What’s next?
This changing context and especially the looming elections could push Germany towards even more restrictions on asylum seekers, according to Hannes Schammann, head of the Migration Policy Research Group at the University of Hildesheim in northern Germany.
“All democratic parties fear the rise of right-wing populism. Hence, we will witness a lot of different approaches to prevent refugees from reaching Germany,” he told Al Jazeera.
The professor of migration policy analysis said the moves could spark “severe legal challenges”, even potentially culminating in abolishing the article of the German constitution that guarantees the right of asylum.
“This could be a turning point for the self-image of post-Nazi Germany as the home of human rights. This will not stop at migration policy,” he said.
According to Schammann, Germany’s neighbours might also react by closing or restricting their borders, which could reinforce the so-called Fortress Europe – a term originating from World War II that has been used to refer to the continent’s controls over its borders and immigration.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner emphasised after Berlin’s measures on Monday – which also included an announcement that 30,000 people have been turned away since Germany implemented partial border controls in 2023 – that his country would not take in any migrants rejected by Germany.
“There’s no room for manoeuvre there,” he said.
“Europe will try to maintain unity at the cost of violating international conventions,” Schammann said, adding that most migration pressure will be directed towards those coming from the Middle East and North Africa as immigration numbers are not expected to fall.
“If Germany and in turn Europe reject their responsibility in refugee reception, this will destabilise trust in the international order worldwide.”