Dutch employers’ organisations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland have expressed their concerns related to the Netherlands’ decision to reintroduce border controls with Germany and Belgium from December 9.
They urged the Dutch authorities to align as closely as possible with neighbouring countries in terms of the introduction of border controls and spare economic traffic as much as possible, Schengen.News reports.
The border municipality of Winterswijk in Gelderland, criticising the recent measure from the Dutch government, said that it would inconvenience many residents who work on the other side of the German border.
The Mayor of Winterswijk, Joris Bengevoord, has said that European free movement is very important for border regions, adding that the municipality does not support daily queues at the border.
Bengevoord stressed that he will be following the implementation and consequences of the border controls with great interest, as quoted by NL Times.
Temporary Reintroduction of Border Controls
Recently, the Dutch Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber announced that the Netherlands will reintroduce border controls at land borders with Germany and Belgium.
Citing irregular migration concerns, the Netherlands notified the European Commission regarding the reintroduction of border controls from December 9, 2024, scheduled to be kept in place for six months until June 2025.
Netherlands Notified European Commission for Implementation of Border Controls Only 1 Time
The Schengen Borders Code (SBC) allows EU Member States to reintroduce border controls; however, this is only done in exceptional situations and as a last-resort measure.
However, up to this point, the Netherlands has hardly ever introduced the Commission to such a measure.
The Netherlands didn’t introduce frontier checks even during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the EU Member States’ notification list to the Commission.
The only time that the Dutch authorities implemented such a measure was in 2014, due to the Nuclear Security Summit.
While its neighbouring country Belgium has still not opted for such a measure, Germany, the other EU country with which the Netherlands shares a border, has been carrying out border controls since September 16, arguing that the measure is effective in combating irregular migration.
Source: https://schengen.news/dutch-employers-organisations-concerned-about-reintroduction-of-border-controls/
