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The federal government decides to relax border controls
The | Reading time: 2 minutes.
Interior Minister Seehofer reports on the end of border controls.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announces an extension of internal border controls in Austria, Switzerland and France until June 15. However, starting May 16, checks will only be carried out randomly at all German borders, according to Seehofer.
Checks at the German border will be carefully relaxed from Saturday, transferred to Luxembourg. Until mid-June there will be more restrictions on crossings to France, Switzerland and Austria.
reGermany is gradually reopening the borders. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) announced that the controls would be completely abolished before June 15. “That presupposes that the infection process continues to work so cheaply,” Seehofer said in the morning in Berlin.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior agreed with France, Switzerland and Austria to extend the controls again until June 15. However, all transitions open at the corresponding edges. Checks now only take place with random samples.
Until now, transfer has only been allowed for travelers, for freight traffic and with good reason, for example, for EU citizens heading to their home country. Caring for family members and other family reasons could also be partially affirmed. Seehofer announced that other groups would also be allowed to cross the border, such as schoolchildren in the border area or couples with whom the couple lives in the neighboring country.
Free trip to Luxembourg
Border controls to Luxembourg will be abolished on May 15. “This allows for the overall situation and experience of the federal police,” Seehofer said. At the German-Denmark border, Germany is also ready to stop controls “as soon as the Danish government has carried out its ongoing consultations with its neighboring countries.”
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn welcomed the announced opening of the border. It is “an important signal regarding the gradual re-establishment of the Schengen Agreement.”
In the past few days, Seehofer had argued with his counterparts in neighboring countries and with the prime ministers of border federal states about the details of a gradual return of stationary controls to normal border surveillance in the 30-kilometer range.
Controls at the borders with Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Austria and Switzerland were introduced on March 16 to curb the infection in Germany.
Transitions to Poland and the Czech Republic remain tight
Germany had not introduced any border controls in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic. Poland and the Czech Republic in turn keep their borders closed to foreigners. At the German-Polish border, selected border crossings are open to Polish citizens, diplomats, foreigners with a residence permit, and foreign truck drivers. “We will talk to these countries,” Seehofer announced.
It is the federal government’s “clear goal” that there will be free travel in Europe again from mid-June, Seehofer said. A world travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office applies anyway until June 14. This means that Germans should not go abroad on vacation. This also applies to other European countries.
The federal government also recommends that federal states remove existing quarantine regulations for internal EU travel.
