Border controls with Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland extended

Controls at the land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland will be extended until mid-June. The Federal Ministry of the Interior has notified the European Commission of the extension, as the ministry announced in Berlin on Saturday. Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) explained the extension: "This is necessary to stop the unscrupulous business of people smugglers and to limit 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 in place until around mid-May.

Since 16 October, the Federal Police have detected a total of almost 23,000 unauthorized entries as part of the internal border controls with the four countries, the ministry added. The monthly number fell from around 21,000 in September to around 6,700 in January. In addition, 564 people smugglers were arrested during this period.

Neighboring countries have also introduced border controls in some cases, such as Austria on the border with Hungary and the Czech Republic on the border with Slovakia.