The Europe-wide political party Volt Europa will carry out a protest on November 2 against the implementation of border controls by Luxembourg’s two neighbouring countries- France and Germany.
Volt Europa has said the demonstration will begin at 13:00, and participants will meet in the French commune of Apach at the Les P’tites Pousses childcare centre, Schengen.News reports.
Following a speech in Apach, the participants will cross into the German municipality of Perl for further speeches and then head to Luxembourg’s village of Schengen, towards the monument to the Schengen Agreement.
The announcement for Saturday’s protest comes after the party considers that the reintroduction of border controls is “a step backward for European unity and free movement.”
Luxembourg Affected by Border Controls Initiated by Its Neighbouring Countries
Irregular migration and terrorist threats were the common reasons cited by Germany and France to the European Commission regarding the extension of controls at internal borders until at least the first quarter of 2025.
Germany initiated checks at all internal borders on September 16, 2024, which are set to remain effective until March 15, 2025.
France, on the other hand, confirmed that controls at the country’s borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain would not end on October 31, 2024, as initially planned, but would be reintroduced instead from November 1, 2024, until April 30, 2025.
In spite of Schengen countries being allowed under the Schengen Borders Code (SBC) to reimpose frontier checks in the event of a threat to public policy or internal security, Luxembourg didn’t implement such a measure. However, it is being affected by its neighbouring countries, Germany and France.
Silva: Border Checks Do Nothing to Help
A week after Germany’s implementation of border controls, Germany’s Federal Police Union said the measure is effectively helping the country manage the migration situation.
Recently, the German Federal Ministry of Interior said the country banned entry to about 1,000 individuals since the decision became effective. However, the EU-wide political party shares a different opinion.
Volt Europa’s party General Secretary, Daniel Silva, has said that “police unions believe that border controls at the German border have served no purpose other than to increase the workload and the mobilisation of staff.”
Silva has said that the security problem is very real. However, frontier checks do nothing to help, as quoted by Luxembourg Times.
While some critics have warned that the border controls are affecting both Luxembourg residents and cross-border commuters, the Ministry of the Interior of Germany said travel and commuter traffic, as well as business and trade, should be affected as little as possible soon after announcing the introduction of border controls.
On the other hand, travel experts have warned that the prolongation of border controls, announced by France, would cause long queues, affecting France’s neighbouring countries: Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy in particular.
Source: https://schengen.news/protest-planned-across-france-germany-luxembourg-against-implementation-of-border-controls/
