Germany expands border controls to curb the influx of asylum seekers

– International news – Tasnim news agency According to the German newspaper “De Welt”, the German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Pfizer has announced that she wants to introduce temporary border controls. Continue with the Czech Republic and Poland. During his trip to Prague, he proposed a six-month extension of these controls despite the reduction in the number of people entering his country illegally. Is. However, in October last year, Germany introduced controls at the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic. Germany’s interior minister is now considering extending this – and if necessary, expanding it further. is a check Although the number of illegal immigrants has decreased, many asylum applications are still being filed, Pfizer said during a meeting with his Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan in Prague. Therefore, further expansion of controls is considered.

The German minister also announced the possible expansion of controls to all German external borders on the occasion of the 2024 European Football Championship in June and July. Pfizer noted that this is common practice for countries hosting such events.

To fight smugglers and prevent illegal immigration, fixed controls were put in place in Poland and the Czech Republic last October. In response, neighboring countries to the east imposed controls on Slovakia in order to reduce the number of asylum seekers from there. Since 2015, there are also fixed border controls between Germany and Austria.

The reintroduction of border controls in the Schengen area is permitted only in exceptional cases and must be approved by Brussels. According to Pfizer, they are tested every six months. The deadline for the current controls ends in the middle of March.

At the same time, Rakusan considered this action of Germany to be understandable, but demanded that we should finally talk about open borders and the open Schengen area. let’s come back He requested that “democratic politicians” should not get used to the current situation.

One of the other topics of the meeting between the two European ministers was the close cooperation of the firefighting and disaster control organization. Pfizer visited the fire station that was built two years ago in the Holsovice district of Prague together with Karl-Heinz Banse, President of the German Fire Brigade Association, and Dirk Hansen, Vice President of THW. Rakosan and Pfizer agreed to revise and expand the 2000 treaty on mutual assistance in natural disasters.

There were differing views on the new EU asylum and migration treaty between Berlin and Prague. The Czech Republic wants to abstain from the final vote on this package in the Council of Europe. While Pfizer said it respects the fact that the Czech Republic does not agree with the changes made by the EU Parliament. However, he assumes that the Asylum and Migration Pact will still win a large majority. According to the EU Commission, this agreement aims to make the European asylum system faster, more efficient and based on solidarity.

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