EU in crisis as Germany raises prospects of major change to free movement right

Germany may be edging closer to reintroducing controls on all its borders in a move which potentially could spell the end of free movement in Europe as enshrined by the Schengen Agreement.

Berlin reimposed temporary border checks with all its neighbouring countries during this summer's European football Championships, which the country hosted.

However, Olaf Scholz government is coming under intense pressure to maintain universal border checks from one of its fiercest political rivals.

In an opinion piece for Bild, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, and Markus Söder from the CDU's Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) ratcheted up the pressure on Scholz over immigration.

They wrote: “The controls at all German state borders must be continued.”

In October last year, Germany reintroduced checks at its borders with the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland and Austria. While this temporary measure was meant to last until June, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community announced in May it would be extended until the winter.

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Fäser has insisted these will remain in place until irregular migration starts to "noticeably" decrease.

A recent report by the federal police shows that the number of illegal migrants travelling through Germany has reached levels last seen in 2016, during a refugee crisis that gripped Europe.

The CDU and CSU's proposals would see controls reimposed with Germany's northern and western neighbours for the first time.

Both parties have been supported by the liberal FDP, which is part of the fragile coalition government formed by Scholz following the elections in 2021.

The FDP has made the fight against irregular migration one of its priorities, as Germany heads towards state elections in September and federal ones next year.

While Denmark remains unfazed by the proposals, other EU countries have been less sanguine in their reaction.

“For a country like ours, situated at the heart of Europe and with a very open economy, the smooth operation of the Schengen area is essential,” a Belgian government spokesperson told Euractiv.

The Czech Republic also warned that other countries would most likely follow suit if Scholz bowed to political pressure to reintroduce border checks.

Hana Malá, the country's Interior Minister, said: “This would be a fundamental departure from the current legislation and the principle of Schengen itself, which would undoubtedly lead to the domino effect of checks throughout Schengen."

In a sign of growing splits in Scholz's coalition, the Greens wrote a letter to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, questioning the legality of the move.

They also said that there was no statistical evidence showing the effectiveness of border checks in preventing irregular migration.