Germany has begun new controls at all of its land borders as part of a crackdown on migration, placing restrictions on a wide area of free movement known as the Schengen Zone and stirring anger among its European neighbors.
From Monday, as well as existing border controls with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, Germany will now also have internal border controls with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
Berlin will have the power to reject people at all land borders, a statement from the Interior Ministry said. The new rules will last for six months initially.
The move marks how far Germany has shifted in recent years on the flashpoint issue of migration.
The German government under Angela Merkel welcomed more than one million new arrivals during the migrant crisis of 2015-2016 but is now following other European countries in toughening up rules as it faces a surging far-right opposition.
It comes after Germany on Friday struck a controlled migration deal with Kenya, which will see Berlin open its doors to skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers.
Announcing the changes, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that Germany was “strengthening internal security through concrete action” and continuing its “tough stance against irregular migration.”
She signaled the move was aimed at protecting German citizens from the dangers posed by Islamist terrorism as well as serious cross-border crime.
The move has put the unity of the European bloc to the test and attracted criticism from Germany’s neighbors.
Germany is part of the Schengen border-free area. Under European Union rules, member states have the ability to temporarily reintroduce border control at internal borders in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security. However, this must be applied as a last resort.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the introduction of tighter controls at land borders was unacceptable for Poland, adding that Warsaw would request urgent talks with all countries affected. Both Greece and Austria have warned that they would not accept migrants rejected by Germany.
Closer to home, Germany’s Council for Migration warned that the plan risks violating EU law.
“The current policy goal of turning back (migrants) seeking protection at Germany’s borders represents a dangerous form of populism in the migration policy debate,” a statement said, which called for an “evidence-based debate on migration policy in Europe.”
Germany’s government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has been spurred into action to tackle uncontrolled immigration after receiving criticism for not doing enough to tackle the issue.
The country’s approach to migration has toughened in recent years, in light of a surge in arrivals – particularly from the Middle East and Ukraine – as well as terror attacks motivated by Islamic terror.
The coalition government seeking to counter the country’s burgeoning far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is known for its explicitly anti-immigrant and anti-Islam agenda.
The new security package came in the wake of a fatal attack in the western city of Solingen, in which three people were stabbed to death on August 23.
The suspect was identified as a 26-year-old Syrian man with alleged links to ISIS, who had previously been due for deportation.