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Matthias Köpf, Kiefersfelden
Hajo Gruber has doubted for years that there is a threat to public order and internal security in the Federal Republic of Germany from the direction of Kufstein. Gruber is the mayor of Kiefersfelden, through which many cars have been rolling since 2015, avoiding the traffic jam on the Inntal autobahn due to border controls with Austria. According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice on Tuesday, such controls within the Schengen area may only be extended if public order and internal security are seriously threatened. The verdict refers to the Austrian controls on Slovenia, but many people in the Bavarian border area with Austria are now hoping for an end to the German control practice. According to a statement on Wednesday, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) only extended this until November a few days earlier.
“Every day earlier is a good day,” says Mayor Gruber about a possible end to the controls. He understood how they were introduced during the refugee crisis in 2015, but there is no longer any reason to continue to extend them every six months. In addition to the A93 near Kiefersfelden, there are only fixed federal police checkpoints on the A8 near Bad Reichenhall and the A3 near Passau. Elsewhere, checks are only carried out sporadically, in the hinterland the veiled investigators of the Bavarian border police pull suspects out of circulation. Federal and border police regularly list their apprehensions and hits, but the ECJ ruling calls into question the legality of the controls.
The Bavarian Greens are calling for their abolition, and FDP domestic politician Alexander Muthmann also wants to phase them out. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, it is examining possible consequences of the verdict, but has extended the controls again, which Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann believes was “absolutely necessary for reasons of migration and security policy”. Illegal migration increased in 2021, the protection of the EU’s external borders is not sufficient. Before and during the G-7 summit in Elmau at the end of June, Herrmann is demanding controls at all German borders.