Schengen’s vision of a border-free Europe under pressure in Germany

German opposition parties and parts of the government coaling are calling for more border checks to tackle irregular migration, questioning the consensus on Schengen that has long been taken for granted in the country that borders most EU member states.

While falling vis-a-vis last year, the number of illegal border crossings still remains high in Germany after a pandemic-induced low.

This has prompted the government to reintroduce checks at the borders with Poland, Czechia, and Switzerland from last September, in addition to those on the German-Austrian border. But migration hawks believe this does not go far enough.

The opposition and parts of the government coalition are now calling for permanent checks at all national borders. Some fear that the migration debate will lead to backsliding on the border-free Schengen system.

“Fear for the achievements of Schengen is justified,” said Christian Petry, the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD/S&D) lead German member of parliament (MP) on European affairs, who is from the border region of Saarland, which has frequently switched hands between France and Germany.

“If this political development [calls for blanket checks] continues and becomes capable of winning a majority [in parliament], it would be a major setback for a federal, social Europe.”

It seems that the government has opened a pandora’s box when it introduced temporary checks, first at all national borders during the UEFA European football championship (EURO), and now during the Olympics at the border with France.

The largest opposition group, the centre-right CDU/CSU, has since started pushing for registering blanket checks of the entire German border as an exception to Schengen rules, which would give the police permission to conduct stationary or mobile checks at any time.

CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz recently counted this as one of the measures, “that do not cost money, but could very quickly change the mood in the country for the better.”

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD/S&D) declined to make checks permanent, but the SPD’s coalition partner, the liberal FDP, has come out in favour of the proposal.

A slippery slope

The development marks a new level of escalation in the normalisation of border controls for Germany, as one of the EU’s most interconnected countries, and for the CDU/CSU which labels itself “Germany’s European party”.

After all, it was CDU chancellor Helmut Kohl who oversaw the introduction of the Schengen area in 1995.

His CDU successor-but-one, Angela Merkel, still posed as a champion for pan-European solutions amid the 2015-16 refugee crisis, though her government reintroduced checks at the Austrian border.

But by 2023, CDU officials were leading calls for controls at the borders with Czechia and Poland, amid a spike in irregular migration.

Faeser was initially sceptical, noting that, “stationary border controls are a major disruption to the everyday lives of many people.” But she eventually bowed to pressure.

Backers of extended checks point to the success of the checks during the EURO. Between 7 June and 19 July, the police registered 9,172 cases of unauthorised entries, far more than any month so far this year, of whom 6,401 were turned back. Also, 275 suspected people-smugglers were arrested.

“[The numbers] (…) show to which extent freedom of movement is abused by criminals and endangers citizens,” the CDU’s deputy lead MP on European affairs, Detlef Seif, told Euractiv.

“The ‘spirit of Schengen’ is often misinterpreted as unconditional freedom of movement,” said Seif, noting that Schengen requires effective external EU border checks, the absence of which necessitated internal national checks.

Rather than “complete checks at all crossings” as in pre-Schengen times, they would be spot checks, he added.

Will the ‘spirit of Schengen’ survive?

The transport sector has indeed not experienced any noticeable disruptions from current checks, a spokesperson of the association of German haulage and logistics businesses (DSLV) told Euractiv.

But he pointed out that goods traffic was spared during the EURO, which “has to stay that way” as “production, trade and logistics processes in Europe are based on the free movement of goods.”

The SPD’s Petry fears that the inconveniences and psychological effect of comprehensive, blanket border checks will impair cross-border collaboration in the long-term.

Germany’s ruling party therefore insists that checks are not the most efficient protection, with the interior ministry also arguing that Schengen rules require controls to be temporary, not blanket, and a last-resort measure.

Faeser, however, has previously given in to pressure concerning border checks.

In any case, existing controls could be around for a while. Migration levels must fall sustainably for checks to be terminated, said Faeser, with her hopes resting on the EU’s migration reform.

The implementation of the new system is only due to be completed in 2026.