Arguing that border controls are necessary in the fight against the smuggling mafia and threat of extremism, Austria has decided to extend such a measure again along the border with Czechia until April 16, 2024.
The decision has been confirmed through a statement issued by Austria’s Ministry of the Interior.
Vienna reintroduced controls at the common borders with Czechia on October 18, 2023. In addition to Czechia, the country maintains border controls with Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
“Border controls are one of numerous measures to combat the internationally operating smuggling mafia. In addition, given the international security situation, border controls are also necessary for decisive action against extremists.
However, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan recently told the Czech Press Agency that controls at the common borders with Germany and Austria have very little impact on cross-border movement and present few complications for citizens of Czechia travelling abroad.
Similar to Austria, Germany also announced that it decided to extend frontier checks with Czechia, Poland and Switzerland until June 15, 2024.
The decision was confirmed by the German Minister of Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser, and was taken under irregular migration and smuggling concerns.
We are continuing the controls at our borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for three more months until mid-June 2024. The Federal Police can, therefore, continue to use the entire package of stationary and mobile border police measures flexibly.
The Minister argued that the measure is necessary to halt irregular migration to Germany, in addition to helping detect people smugglers who help migrants reach Germany in an irregular way.
Unlike Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan, Germany’s Interior Minister considered the measures to be effective after, according to her, the Federal Police arrested nearly 560 people smugglers at the land border with the three other EU countries since October.
In contrast to Austria and Germany, Czechia abolished border controls that were kept in place with Slovakia for four months.
The decision to abolish border controls with Slovakia was confirmed by Czechia’s Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who noted that random border checks would continue.
Irregular migration concerns are among the main reasons that several European countries have decided to reintroduce border controls up to this point. The figures from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, revealed that last year, a total of 380,000 irregular border crossing attempts were detected at the EU’s external borders, the highest since 2016.
