France is set to increase the intensity of border controls with its European neighbors amid fears of uncontrolled migration and terrorist threats just weeks after Germany announced a similar policy.
French authorities informed the European Commission last week that their borders with six of their Schengen member neighbors – namely Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland – will be reinforced with increased controls from November 1 during at least six months.
The checks will apply to travelers entering France via land, sea and air routes from the six countries and will expire on April 1, 2025, but authorities have said they could be extended further.
A French government statement stated that the controls were introduced due to “serious threats to public policy, public order and internal security posed by high-level terrorist activities…criminal networks that facilitate irregular migration and smuggling, and migratory flows that run the risk of infiltration by radicalized people”. individuals’.
It is the first time France has introduced such checks since the Covid-19 pandemic and could see migrants and unauthorized travelers turned back at the border and those suspected of criminal activity detained.
German police stand guard at a border with France, as all German land borders are subject to random checks to protect internal security and reduce irregular migration.
Police detain a man at the German-French border in Kehl, western Germany.
Police stand at a customs checkpoint at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, on the northern outskirts of Paris, on October 18, 2024.
Passengers passing through an exit at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport
Under the Schengen Agreement, 29 European countries agreed to abolish internal border controls with the aim of achieving freedom of movement across the continent.
Twenty-five of the 27 EU member states are party to the agreement along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
However, the Schengen Borders Code allows member states to introduce temporary “last resort” border controls if authorities believe there is a serious threat to public order or internal security.
These temporary restrictions can last up to six months, which is why French authorities have set the expiration date of the next measures as April 1, 2025.
But those controls can be expanded if threats are considered to persist.
The measures that will come into force in France from November 1 do not in any way affect the rights of Europeans and other citizens to travel to France, and will only apply to travelers from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland.
But people entering France from these states could face long queues at border points.
The move comes weeks after France’s EU partner Germany introduced similar controls in September, citing a wave of Islamic extremist attacks and concerns about unchecked migration.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser insisted at the time that the measure would help “stop criminals and identify and detain Islamists at an early stage.”
The announcement was met with criticism from several European partners, notably Austria, which said it would refuse to accept migrants rejected at its shared border with Germany.
Meanwhile, the European Commission warned that EU members should only impose such measures in exceptional circumstances.
But German government figures released shortly after the controls came into effect offered shocking revelations.
In just five days after the reintroduction of border controls at all German borders, the federal police detected almost 900 unauthorized entries.
Of these, 640 people were returned, 17 extremists were identified and 114 arrest warrants were executed.
In an interview with the German magazine Focus, Manuel Ostermann, federal vice president of the Federal Police Union, stated: “We are witnessing the effectiveness of the federal police and, above all, we see once again confirmation of the need for controls borders”.
Those in favor of reintroducing the restrictions argued that it was only necessary to do so because the EU’s external border controls had failed.
A German police officer with a guard dog at the border with France, as all German land borders are subject to random checks.
German police check people arriving from France at the Franco-German border on September 16, 2024.
France’s introduction of stricter checks also comes weeks after an EU plan to impose new border checks on non-EU nationals was shelved indefinitely, saving British tourists from an ordeal many feared. that would unleash chaos at airports and border checkpoints.
The EU confirmed earlier this month that the so-called Entry/Exit System (EES), originally scheduled to be implemented on November 10, had been suspended as key members of the bloc – namely France, Germany and the Netherlands – They were not ready to implement it.
The EEA intends to scrap passport checks and stamps, replacing the current system with a series of biometric tests that would require passport holders from non-EU countries, including the British, to submit their fingerprints and facial scans. at its first entry point to the Schengen Zone. .
Each subsequent visit would have triggered a new biometric check, a plan that many feared would turn visits to the mainland into a severe logistical headache.
But after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg, Brussels announced that the launch date is “no longer on the table”, with no new timetable in sight.
This is the third time the EEA has been postponed and, unlike previous delays, this one does not include promises of a new schedule.
First agreed in 2017, the automated system was set to replace manual passport stamping and automatically record the entry and exit date of visitors.
It is argued that this would help authorities track overstays and denied entries, and crack down on illegal migration.
But news of the plan sparked fears of longer queues and waiting times for people traveling to Europe on trains, ferries and planes, and Brussels was eventually forced to reconsider its original launch date last year amid warnings of that border crossings would be blocked if the system were also launched. abruptly without the necessary infrastructure.
According to the EES, each time visitors cross to the mainland they will have to show a facial image and provide four fingerprints.
Queues at the port of Dover, one of the places where the postponed EES will be introduced
A sign alerts travelers arriving at the Port of Dover of works underway to facilitate the new and much-delayed European Union Entry and Exit System
A British parliamentary committee said earlier this year that some British passengers could initially expect delays of up to 14 hours, prompting harsh criticism of the plan from this side of the Channel.
France rejected calls to implement the EEA earlier this year amid fears that two major sporting events – the Rugby World Cup and the Paris Olympics – would be disrupted, so the launch date was rescheduled for October 6th and then again for November 10th.
The delay in implementing the EES can be seen as a victory for British travelers, but advocates of the plan say the move exposes deeper cracks within the EU.
Germany, France and the Netherlands, which between them handle a hefty 40 percent of all non-EU traffic into the bloc, have struggled to install the IT infrastructure needed to implement the complicated new system.