Tournament in summer
Goodbye Schengen: Germany is introducing border controls for the European Football Championship
Renaissance of the barriers: Germany is temporarily introducing controls at the state borders during the European Championships (pictured: border crossing in Weil am Rhein)
© Philipp von Ditfurth / DPA
Like the 2006 World Cup: Germany is closing its borders during the upcoming European Football Championship, at least a little. Terrorists and hooligans should stay outside.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has announced temporary controls at all German borders for the European Football Championship in the summer. “We will carry out temporary border controls at all German borders during the tournament in order to be able to prevent possible violent criminals from entering the country,” said Faeser to the “Rheinische Post”. This is necessary in order to protect the EM in the best possible way. The focus is on protection against Islamists and other extremists, against hooligans and other violent criminals, as well as the security of the networks against cyber attacks. “We are keeping a particular eye on these current threats.”
The European Football Championship starts on June 14th. Germany had often carried out temporary border controls when major international events took place in the country, including the 2006 Football World Cup. It was only in mid-February that the Federal Ministry of the Interior extended the controls at the land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland until mid-June. The main focus is on the fight against smugglers and irregular migration. In addition to the controls introduced in October at the borders with the three neighboring countries, they have also been in place at the border with Austria since autumn 2015, where they are still limited until around mid-May.
Venues
Uefa has chosen Berlin as the final venue for the 2024 European Championship – the games will also be played in these stadiums
Police union believes they are well prepared for the European Championships
The police union (GdP) considers the security authorities to be well equipped to protect the EM. GDP deputy federal chairman Alexander Poitz told the “Rheinische Post” that there is a sophisticated security concept that ranges from targeted entry controls to drone defense. Nevertheless, it should not be overlooked that the police not only have to protect the stadiums, but also the numerous public viewing areas and other places where many people were during the European Championship. There can be no absolute security. “But we shouldn’t encourage a terrorist attack either. That would only benefit the terrorists.”
The German security authorities have not changed their assessment of the Islamist threat to Germany after the devastating terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow (read here why the attack in Moscow presents the federal government with a balancing act). A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said this in Berlin on Monday. “This was already high before, as shown by the measures taken by the security authorities against terrorist suspects from the ISPK.” Faeser assumes that the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK) group, known as an offshoot of the Islamic State (IS), was responsible for the attack.