Politics France extends border controls until April 2025

France is extending the border controls introduced in 2015 to monitor migration until April 2025. "The French expect us to have an effective immigration control policy," said Prime Minister Michel Barnier. In a communication to the EU Commission, France justified the controls with terror threats and irregular migration flows, where there is a risk that these could be infiltrated by radicalized individuals.

France introduced controls at its borders after the Islamist attacks in 2015 for reasons of terrorism protection and has repeatedly extended the controls, which are possible for six months at a time. Most recently, border controls have been in place since the beginning of June in connection with the Olympic Games and will expire at the end of October. During the border controls, which were often only carried out sporadically, France also turned away and sent back migrants who did not have the necessary entry documents.

Stationary controls in Germany too

Border controls are not actually planned in the Schengen area. Since mid-September, Germany has also reintroduced stationary controls at all land borders. These controls were justified on the grounds of irregular migration.

France's Prime Minister announced that a special unit that has been deployed at the border with Italy since summer 2023, initially on a trial basis, will now be deployed nationwide and thus also at the French-German border. This border protection unit, the so-called "Force Frontière", consists of police officers, customs officers and soldiers from the anti-terrorism unit "Sentinelle".

SDA