German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday defended his administration’s coverage on border controls amid rising criticism from neighbouring nations.
“We should right now preserve border controls, as a result of the safety of the exterior European borders just isn’t sufficiently assured,” Merz mentioned in Berlin, shortly after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk introduced checks on the border with Germany would start subsequent week, in a seemingly tit-for-tat transfer.
Merz mentioned that he had mentioned the problem with Tusk on a number of events and that the 2 leaders need to work collectively to reduce the burden. “We’ve got a standard downside right here that we need to clear up collectively,” he mentioned.
He additionally firmly rejected Polish media studies claiming that asylum seekers who’ve already been accepted in Germany are being returned to Poland.
“Some folks listed here are claiming that there’s a sort of repatriation tourism from Germany to Poland and that they’re then virtually being taken again throughout the border to Poland,” mentioned the chancellor, who took workplace in Could. That’s not the case.”
Talking at a gathering with Luxembourgish Prime Minister Luc Frieden in Berlin, Merz mentioned the controls on Germany’s borders are momentary and that disruption is being stored “as small as doable” for cross-border commuters, a serious subject in Luxembourg.
“We don’t need to hinder those that commute every day,” mentioned the chancellor.
The Luxembourgish chief, in the meantime, known as for elevated police cooperation to scale back or do away with controls.
Friden says he stands by “the precept that unlawful immigration is insupportable” however insisted that financial cooperation throughout the EU’s inside borders should not be disrupted.