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The mayor of a Polish town on the border with Germany, Zgorzelec, has said he will file a complaint to the European Parliament regarding the ongoing border controls imposed by Germany.
He said that Germany’s decision goes against the Schengen Agreement and causes traffic disruption, Schengen.News reports.
As Notes from Poland explains, Zgorzelec’s mayor, Rafał Gronicz, will send a petition to the EU Parliament. Through this petition, the authorities are aiming to pressure Germany to reconsider their approach to border controls, which are bringing the town to a standstill.
Germany’s Extended Border Controls Bringing New Obstacles
Germany is maintaining border controls at all land borders, considering the measure is giving positive results to combat irregular migration.
Amid concerns over the migratory situation in the Eastern Mediterranean route, and the increase in human smuggling, Germany notified the European Commission about the introduction of border controls on October 16, 2023.
In addition to Poland, border checks were also imposed on three other border countries of Germany.
The measure that was scheduled to remain in place until October 25, 2023, has been renewed several times and continues to remain effective.
In addition, citing serious threats to public security and order by irregular migration and migrant smuggling, as well as the impact of the global security situation on security and migration,
Germany notified the EU that it will continue to maintain border controls until September 15, 2025, with France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Czechia, Switzerland, and Poland.
Germany’s Interior Ministry argued that the measure is effectively helping in combat irregular migration, in spite of concerns raised by its neighbouring countries. In January this year, the Ministry said that in the past 15 months of border controls a total of 43,500 people were turned away from Germany.
Concerns Among Neighbouring Countries
Soon after Germany’s announcement that border controls would be kept in place until September 2025, the Home Affairs Minister of Luxembourg, Léon Gloden, said his country would address a formal complaint to the European Commission.
Luxembourg’s LSAP, the largest opposition party, called for Luxembourg to take Germany’s decision to extend border controls to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
In January this year, a Polish man, Jakub Wolinski, also said he plans to take Germany to court amid controls introduced at the German-Polish border.
Source: https://schengen.news/polish-mayor-to-file-eu-complaint-amid-german-border-controls/
