Continued Anti-immigration Sentiments in Germany

By Connor Foster

This past month has seen another surge in anti-immigration regulations in Germany. Europe in general has been experiencing the ascendence of far-right parties to greater power in national politics, and Germany is no exception. On September 16^th, the government ordered the “temporary reintroduction of border control” on the borders with Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France, and Denmark. This is added on top of the border controls already in place for Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. This escalation of border control signifies a sharp change from prior open migration policy espoused by previous German administrations. The mounting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz is coming largely from the growing presence of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and their campaign focus on terrorist attacks. There have been several instances of terror that the AfD has capitalized on to increase fear of immigrants and promote their party platform.  

This new policy puts the Schengen zone, an area that allows for the free movement of people between member countries with no border controls, at risk. This could be particularly damaging to the unity in the European Union as the freedom of movement brings significant economic benefits to individuals and countries. In addition, countries bordering Germany have made it clear that they are not willing to accept all migrants that are turned away at the German border. Within the Schengen zone, border controls are only allowed as a last resort when there are serious threats to security, however, Germany’s explanations have not been accepted as such by other member countries. Germany’s Council for Migration is warning the government that they are in danger of going against EU law.  It is yet to be seen if this new round of border control will have the desired effect on migration, however, the last round of controls brought about a 21.7% drop in asylum applications in the first 8 months of the year.