Transport sector very concerned by Germany's border controls

Germany’s announcement that it would introduce passport checks at all national borders from Monday has the Dutch transport sector very concerned. Germany is one of the Netherlands’ main trading partners. Transportes expect heavy delays like what happened at the United Kingdom border after the Brexit.

Germany wants the temporary passport checks to reduce the number of people entering the country without a valid visa. The border controls will last at least six months, the maximum permitted period for this measure within the Schengen zone.

Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN) is very concerned about the consequences of these border controls. Major problems arose when Germany implemented passport checks during the European Football Championship last summer and during the coronavirus pandemic, the sector organization told NOS. The extra checks resulted in long waiting times and the German border.

TLN fears similar situations to when the Brexit first took effect, with products arriving too late and the resulting consequences for trade. “Germany is undermining the Schengen Agreement and the free movements of goods as a result,” the organization said.

Minister Marjolein Faber of Asylum and Migration said she welcomed Germany's measure. The PVV Minister previously expressed the wish to strengthen controls on the Dutch borders as well. She added that the impact on trade must be as limited as possible.

Austria is less pleased with the announced measure. Interior Minister Gerhard Kramer told German media that Austria will not accept turning people back at the border. He has instructed the federal police not to allow it, he said.

The Schengen zone consists of 29 countries within which EU residents are allowed to travel freely without internal border controls. “Under certain conditions, border controls can be reintroduced, for example, if it concerns internal security,” Theresa Kuhn, a professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, told BNR. Then, a country can implement passport checks for up to six months before the measure needs to be renewed.

This move by Germany is mainly a case of “symbolic politics” responding to public opinion, Kuhn said. The far-right anti-immigration party AfD profited from a terrorist attack in Solingen where an asylum seeker whose application got rejected killed three people. “Not only the AfD, but also centrist parties exerted a lot of pressure on the government to implement a stricter migration policy. This is now the result.”

The question now is whether the measure will actually reduce immigration, Kuhn said. “I assume not, but at least you show your citizens that you are working on it. The government parties hope to score points with that.”