Germany is set to impose stricter border controls with several neighboring countries starting next week, following deadly migrant attacks that fueled far-right gains in recent state elections.
Germany has announced that it will implement stricter controls along its land borders with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Luxembourg starting next week, with the measures set to remain in place for at least six months.
These measures are being introduced as a “last resort” following a series of deadly knife attacks by migrants, which sparked public fury and has largely been seen as the catalyst to a far-right party securing the most seats in state elections in Germany since World War II.
On Tuesday, the opposition party CDU in Germany ended negotiations with the ruling Ampel coalition (SPD, Greens, and FDP) regarding migration controls, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz suggesting that the government “cannot agree on effective measures.”
The third East German state of Brandenburg is set to vote in just under two weeks, and polls suggest that security is a top priority among voters.
Tighter controls at the Austrian, Swiss, Czech and Polish borders are already in place, and the German government is hoping that by introducing these new, stricter measures it can continue to return thousands of migrants at the border.
The border controls allow police to deny entry, and the German Interior Ministry reported on Monday that 30,000 migrants have been turned back at the border with Austria over the past 11 months.
In August, the German government resumed deportations to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban took power in 2021, despite many refugees and asylum seekers having survived torture.
An anti-migration mood has been building in Europe’s strongest economy for the past nine years after it took in around 1 million refugees fleeing war from countries such as Syria in 2015.
Parties on the far-right and far-left have been capitalising on the government’s decision to grant asylum to another million Ukrainians who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, despite high levels of inflation, soaring costs of living and an energy crisis that has seen scores of businesses close in Germany.
However, a recent study carried out by the German Economic Institute shows foreign workers generated €24.6 billion in revenue in the five east German states between 2018-2023.
Experts warn that the danger of the far right is not only their potential to win enough votes to govern alone — something that seems unlikely — but rather the risk that left-leaning parties may start adopting far-right policies in a bid to claw back voters, especially ahead of the federal elections next year.
