Germany has announced plans to prolong intensified border controls past March 2025, amidst ongoing discussions regarding security and immigration in the wake of a fatal Christmas market attack and leading up to elections in February.
In mid-September, Berlin implemented controls at its borders with all nine neighboring countries for a period of six months, intending to reduce irregular immigration and enhance security following a deadly knife attack that was suspected to be jihadist in nature the prior month.
Since these measures were enacted, approximately 1,800 individuals have been apprehended and 40,000 have been turned away at Germany’s land borders, as reported by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in an interview with the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine.
The largest economy in Europe has maintained border controls with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland for several years now.
“We require these controls until the protection of the EU’s external borders is significantly improved,” Ms. Faeser stated today.
She noted that the number of deportations of rejected asylum seekers has increased by over 50 percent in the past two years.
Germany stands out as the only country in Europe to have “deported dangerous criminals to Afghanistan,” asserted Ms. Faeser, pledging: “We will continue this practice.”
Regarding Syria, from which President Bashar al-Assad was ousted this month, she remarked: “If the hope for peace in Syria materializes, then many refugees will have the opportunity to return.”
The government led by center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose coalition dissolved in November, is preparing for elections scheduled for 23 February.
Issues related to security and immigration have taken center stage in the election discourse following a series of violent attacks this year.
In August, three individuals lost their lives and eight sustained injuries during a stabbing incident at a street festival in the western city of Solingen.
This attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and police have detained a Syrian suspect in connection with it.
On 20 December, a vehicle drove through a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, resulting in five fatalities and more than 200 injuries.
A 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist, who held far-right, anti-immigrant beliefs, was arrested, yet authorities have not disclosed the suspected motive for the incident.
In his numerous online statements, suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen expressed strongly negative views towards Islam, frustration with German authorities, and advocated for far-right conspiratorial theories regarding the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Security officials have previously indicated that domestic far-right violence poses the most significant extremist threat to Germany, including a group that was apprehended last year for allegedly plotting to attack parliament and overthrow the government.
