Kaja Puto: It has been over a week since Germany introduced inspections at all land borders. What does it look like in practice?
Łukasz Jasinski: As at borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria, where vehicles have been controlled for a long time. The checks are selective and mobile, i.e. carried out at different locations. The key to selection is the kind of vehicle. Most of these cars are stopped, which theoretically can be utilized to smuggle people, namely vans, passenger cars with tinted windows, buses.
Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria are countries whose migration routes lead to Germany. Why control the border with Luxembourg, Belgium or France?
It's a political decision. It is not linked to statistic on migration, which show that around 174 000 asylum applications were submitted between January and the end of August in Germany. Last year it was 300 thousand, in 2016, 745 thousand, so the trend is decreasing. Of course, there are besides people from another categories of asylum seekers in Germany, e.g. over 1 million refugees from Ukraine, illegal migrant workers, etc. On the another hand, the attention of the public, the media and politicians focuses mainly on asylum seekers.
W Germany is presently changing rapidly the public's approach to migration. The August attack of the Syrian knifesmith in Solingen caused a wave of outrage and fear. 3 people lost their lives, in addition, it happened at a picnic for tolerance and diversity, and so it was additionally perceived as a symbolic attack on German values, on the perfect of an open, liberal society. According to a survey for the weekly “Die Zeit” over 4 out of 5 Germans began demanding a tightening of the course towards migration.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government was in the corner and had to show that he was responding to threats and was in control of the situation. Nancy Faeser's decision to introduce border control in practice changed little, but it was very easy due to the fact that it did not require changes in law or Bundestag's fresh solutions. European law allows temporary checks. Let us remind that Germany did this in the summer, for example, during the course of the European football championship, and Poland during the Euro 2012. Unfortunately, as the example of the border with Austria shows, where inspections were introduced in 2015, this temporaryity can become a rule. It's a disturbing and sad trend.
Germany is not the only country in Europe to scope this solution, for example France. Could this lead to the end of Schengen?
There may be a situation in which subsequent countries will introduce these "temporary" checks, which will be extended all six months over the years. This could lead to a slow "death" of the Schengen area. But I say no 1 will formally retreat from it. Nor will anyone reconstruct permanent controls or close borders – what the German chadetry is now proposing. Apart from the question of how much specified a solution would be under European law, in practice it would be impossible due to the fact that German services endure from shortages of staff.
Either way, it is simply a phenomenon that weakens the image of the European Union. The Schengen area is an accomplishment of European integration, which reaches the imagination of millions of people. You don't should be an global businessman to benefit from it. For years Schengen has been a symbol of success and evidence of EU action in practice.
How do controls affect global trade and the everyday life of border regions?
As far as I know, the inhabitants of border regions – I am talking about the Polish-German border – are utilized to this situation, due to the fact that the controls do not contact them. The transport and logistics manufacture is experiencing difficulties. erstwhile planning transports, you gotta calculate the anticipation that the car will be stopped for control. In addition, any parts of Germany are presently undergoing road and road repairs.
The tightening of border control by Germany powerfully criticized the governments of Poland and Austria.
First of all, due to the fact that Germany did not consult its neighbours, they just unilaterally announced it. This undermines trust between partners and Germany, after all, they are a central country for the EU, besides in terms of geographical location. Austria's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner commented on the issue, who announced that if Germany were to turn around at the border, Austria would not accept them. Fortunately, however, the national government does not foresee specified steps. Pushing groups of people between 2 borders would be destructive to the Schengen area and the EU, not to mention that it would simply be inhumane.
Is this criticism echoing in Germany?
Not really. Germany is now focusing on its own problems: migration problems, economical crisis, increased support for utmost parties. We are not even talking about the external borders of the European Union, the function of Frontex, the policy towards Lukashenko, or how to support countries that are en way to Germany.
The decision to introduce border controls was made after excellent results were obtained by AfD In Local elections in Saxony and Thuringia – in the second of the Lands mentioned, this organization won the elections – and successes during the run in Brandenburg. It can be said that the run before next year's elections to the Bundestag has already begun. And that means that in the next months Germany will be even more focused on itself.
Border checks are not the only manifestation of the tightening of the migration course after the election in the erstwhile GDR.
The government has besides proposed to tighten the rules on the holding of knives in public spaces, to extend the powers of the police and the national Criminal Office to collect data on asylum seekers, including biometric data, and to restrict the rights of specified persons, to reside in centres in the border area. Asylumists for whom another EU countries are liable under the alleged Dublin mechanics are to lose their right to German social benefits even before they are sent back from Germany. These are solutions that are just being developed in the Bundestag, so we will see what their final form will be.
These are gestures that show migrants that they are not very wanted here. Does the German government not fear that this will deepen their sense of alienity and, as a result, increase social tensions?
That's a subject that nobody truly touches. Even Greens, for whom open society is an crucial topic. The force of the public to tighten migration policy is so large that it is actually subject to all parties, which only deepened after the elections in east Germany. The full public debate is now focused on the issue of security, on how well asylum applications can be handled and on how Germany should no longer accept so many people. At the same time, manufacture associations, business associations, etc. emphasize that the future of Germany without migrants is impossible due to the fact that there are no working hands.
How is it possible that the elections in the 3 tiny states, with a full population of just over 8 million people – or 10% of the German population – had specified a strong influence on national policy?
This is an interesting question, especially in the context of Thuringia, the only land where AfD won the election – it is simply a tiny and provincial region. Moreover, these election results were expected, polls predicted them. Nevertheless, elections break a taboo due to the fact that the far right organization was never to be in Germany again, but it is simply a permanent part of the German political scenery and is increasingly successful. The second reason is the mediocre results of the ruling coalition, and especially the SPD, in local elections. This deprives the government of legitimacy and contributes to expanding tensions in the SPD-Greens-FDP coalition.
In Brandenburg, however, the SPD managed to win.
At the last minute, against the polls, the Social Democrats overtake the AfD. This means any strengthening of Scholz's position. If the SPD had lost power in Brandenburg – and ruled in this Landa since the unification of Germany – there would have been force on Scholz not to search re-election for Chancellor in the next year's elections to the Bundestag. The fresh candidate could then be the most popular politician in Germany, defence minister Boris Pistorius. Incidentally, it is simply a paradox that the government led by the least popular chancellor sits the most popular German politician, and both represent the same party, or SPD.
The Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Wodke cut off in the run from Chancellor Scholz.
The SPD in Brandenburg even asked Scholz not to engage in the election run in this Landa. The thing is, he has lived in the capital of Brandenburg for years – Potsdam. specified a request must have been humiliating for him and pointed to the mediocre position of the chancellor.
The triumph of the Social Democrats in Brandenburg is the individual accomplishment of Prime Minister Wodke. It became possible thanks to his bid for populist slogans from AfD. Wodke straight demanded the closure of the border with Poland and this attitude most likely helped him win the election.
We will besides see what form the governments in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg will yet have. The basic presumption is to isolate AfD, which requires the creation of an uneasy coalition. The fresh organization that was formed in January, or Alliance, can play a large function here. Sahry Wagenknecht. This organization combines anti-immigrant and anti-establishment slogans with requests to grow social benefits and return to the thought of a welfare state. It is besides very worrying that the formation and its leader are duplicating the Russian communicative regarding the alleged work of the West and NATO for the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and demanding the cessation of support for Kiev. These slogans, especially in the east lands, are very bearable.
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Łukasz Jasinski – Analyst for Germany in the Weimar Triangle Programme and Secretary of the editorial board “Polish Diplomatic Review”. He deals with abroad and interior politics of Germany. His investigation interests are besides related to the past of diplomacy. Doctor of Political discipline and Visiting investigation at the ZZF in Potsdam and the Herder Institute in Marburg. In 2019-2022 expert at the Centre for Historical investigation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
