Germany extends temporary controls to all land borders

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Monday announced an extension of passport controls along all of the country's land borders.

The controls, aimed at curbing the number of people entering Germany without visas, come amid a growing debate about limiting irregular migration.

What did the minister say about the checks?

Faeser said the checks were part of a bid to limit irregular migration and address threats from Islamist terror groups and cross-border criminal organizations.

"We are doing everything we can to protect the people in our country against this," said Faeser.

"We are strengthening our internal security through concrete action and we are continuing our tough stance against irregular migration," the minister said.

Reports citing government sources said Faeser had already informed the European Commission of the measures.

Germany shares more than 3,700 kilometers (more than 2,300 miles) of land borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. 

All are fellow members of the Schengen Zone, within which there are usually no restrictions and checks on travel.

The controls start from next Monday and are to initially set to last for six months.

In response to a sharp increase in first-time asylum requests last year, Germany had already imposed some stricter controls on its borders with Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Switzerland.

While those border checks are officially temporary, they have been repeatedly extended by Berlin.

Why is this happening now?

Long-standing debate over immigration and the asylum system in Germany has intensified in recent weeks after a deadly knife attack in the western German city of Solingen earlier this month.

The suspected attacker, a Syrian citizen, had escaped deportation from Germany to Bulgaria, where he first entered the EU.

Germany's coalition government has been consulting with the main conservative opposition CDU and CSU parties on ways to curb migration in the face of public concern.

The far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won state elections in the state of Thuringia last week and came second in another state, Saxony.

Faeser's Social Democrats are facing a state election in Brandenburg in two weeks, where her party — which is also that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz — governs in coalition with the Greens and Christian Democrats.

rc/rm (dpa, Reuters)