Germany on Monday began random checks at its borders with five Western European nations as it seeks to crack down on irregular migration, expanding a system of mobile border controls that are already in place at four other borders.
The checks began at the borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark before dawn Monday, and are initially scheduled for six months. Germany has already been carrying out the checks at its borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland since last year.
Germany, a member of the 27-member European Union, announced last week that it was expanding border checks to all nine of its land borders this week as part of an effort to crack down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks. Those include a knife attack blamed on a Syrian asylum-seeker in Solingen last month that killed three people. The suspect claimed to be inspired by the Islamic State group. In June, a knife attack attributed to an Afghan immigrant left a police officer dead and four other people wounded.
The border controls are testing European unity because the border checks are seen by some as a step away from the spirit of the EU’s free travel and trade arrangement known as Schengen. The freedom Europeans have to travel freely across borders for work and pleasure is one of the most beloved benefits of the EU.
Germany, the EU’s largest country, is located in the heart of Europe and borders more countries than any other EU member. Some trade unions have expressed concerns that the controls could hurt trade.
But a return to a past system with closed borders and mandatory border checks for every person crossing the border is not in the cards.
Still, German police say the expanded checks already pose a major challenge to them.
Read more at Thehill.com
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