An initiative that gave Christian Estrosi ideas. After Germany decided to reinstate identity checks at its borders, Christian Estrosi announced in a press release published on Tuesday, September 17, asking “the temporary reestablishment of controls at the borders of Menton and Montgenèvre”.
“I am asking that controls be temporarily re-established at the two Franco-Italian borders of the Southern Region. Throughout Europe, our partners are redoubling their efforts to combat illegal immigration. France must play its full part in this.”he wrote.
According to him, this reestablishment of temporary controls would make it possible to “fight against smugglers and activists who exploit the misery and despair of migrants for financial gain or to give themselves a clear conscience (…)”
And to conclude that he believes that this “This restoration is all the more essential since the Council of State relaxed the code on the entry and residence of foreigners last February, henceforth prohibiting France from turning back people at the internal borders of the European Union.”
A six-month implementation in Germany
In Germany, German police began implementing increased border controls in Kehl, just across from Strasbourg, on Monday morning.
Coaches and vans are particularly targeted by the authorities and the police have checked, for example, passengers on a Flixbus and a BlaBlaCar coach.
These are checks carried out in cooperation between the German and French police, but the measure does not please everyone, particularly in Poland where Donald Tusk has denounced this implementation, judging it “unacceptable“, denouncing a “large-scale suspension” of free movement within the Schengen area.
Germany has decided to introduce these border controls to combat illegal immigration, which has once again become a major political issue for Olaf Scholz’s government in the face of the rise of the extreme right.
“This kind of action is unacceptable from the Polish point of view.“, Mr Tusk said in a televised address to Polish ambassadors gathered in Warsaw for an annual conference.
According to the German announcements, controls with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark will be established for six months from September 16. They will be added to the controls already in place at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.
