Greens renew criticism of border controls with Poland
Following the extension of the permanent controls at the border with Poland, the Green parliamentary group in the Brandenburg state parliament has renewed its criticism. There are long traffic jams every day, which make life in the border region more difficult for commuters, schoolchildren and students, said Green MP Sahra Damus on Thursday, according to a press release. At the same time, she questioned the effectiveness of fixed border controls to curb irregular migration. "The number of asylum applications in Germany has risen, despite the controls, which shows that this is purely symbolic politics to fish on the right-wing fringe," said Damus.
Her parliamentary group colleague Clemens Rostock criticized the working conditions of the federal police officers during the checks. "Interior Minister Stübgen is literally leaving the federal police officers out in the cold," said Rostock. The situation with toilets was also unbearable. "The border controls are not only useless, they are also being carried out on the backs of the border control officers," said the MP.
The head of the Central Immigration Office, Olaf Jansen, on the other hand, explained on Tuesday that the number of newly arriving refugees had fallen by three quarters to between 20 and 30 people a day since the introduction of fixed border controls in mid-October. Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) attributed this to the fact that the controls had greatly increased the risk for people smugglers.
When asked on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Federal Police denied that the checks were causing traffic jams on the Autobahn 12 near Frankfurt (Oder). "We fish the vehicles to be checked out of the flowing traffic," he said. To his knowledge, there have been traffic jams after accidents and because of roadworks on the Polish side.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) had extended the stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland by a further 20 days on Wednesday. According to her ministry, the federal police have caught around 90 people smugglers at these borders since October 16.
Despite the increased border controls, asylum applications in Germany have continued to rise, raising doubts about their efficiency in curbing irregular migration, as stated by Green MP Sahra Damus. The situation also raises concerns about the welfare of refugees, with her parliamentary group colleague Clemens Rostock criticizing the working conditions of federal police officers during checks.
Source: www.dpa.com
