Donate
Back to Immigration and asylum in Europe
Observatories

Germany extends internal border controls due to coronavirus and "reasons of migration and security policy": Letter from Horst Seehofer to EU

"I find myself obliged to extend the temporary border control at internal land and air borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Italy and Spain, as well as the sea border with Denmark, effective from 15 April 2020 for an additional period of 20 days..."
Date
22 April 2020
Region
Austria Germany
Tags
2020 21 April-11 May 2020 Immigration and asylum in Europe
"I find myself obliged to extend the temporary border control at internal land and air borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Italy and Spain, as well as the sea border with Denmark, effective from 15 April 2020 for an additional period of 20 days..."

“Apart from this, for reasons of migration and security policy, it would be too early to end the temporary internal border checks along the German-Austrian land border already on 11 May 2020. The decline in the number of illegal entries at the German- Austrian land border must not obscure the highly fragile situation at the Turkish- Greek border and the ongoing considerable potential for illegal migration along the Balkan route. On the basis of Articles 25 to 27 of the Schengen Borders Code, I have therefore ordered the temporary reintroduction of internal border control at the German-Austrian land border for a six-month period beginning 12 May 2020.”

Letter from Horst Seehofer to EU (pdf)

See: Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control (EC, link)