Germany to maintain temporary border checks, says interior minister

Germany will maintain temporary checks on its borders “until external border protection really takes effect,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Thursday.

Faeser was in Warsaw at a meeting of EU home affairs ministers to discuss migration policy, one day after the German parliament backed plans for tighter rules, including turning away all asylum seekers at Germany’s borders.

“We will maintain border controls until external border protection really takes effect,” said Faeser, who extended checks on Germany’s borders last year.

However, she insisted “that the Schengen Area would have open borders again at some point,” pointing out the needs of cross-border workers.

The minister promised her EU counterparts that Germany would continue to act in accordance with EU law and the Basic Law, Germany’s constitution.

“Europe can rely on this federal government,” she said, “and I want to make that clear, because the debates in Germany these days are naturally causing irritation among its European neighbours.”