On Monday 16 February, Alexander Dobrindt, the German Minister of the Interior, announced that Germany is to extend checks at its nine land borders by six months, confirming information revealed the previous day by the German newspaper Bild.
This measure, which is due to be notified to the European Commission shortly, comes in the “absence of a functional European migration policy”, explained the Minister. The scheme, which was due to end on 15 March in Germany, will therefore remain in force until at least mid-September 2026.
Border controls “are part of the reorganisation of our migration policy”, said Mr Dobrindt. His spokesperson, Leonard Kaminski, added that “local authorities are still overwhelmed” and that “there needs to be order” with regard to the German migration situation.
Since the conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May 2025, the German police have stepped up their operations: between mid-September 2025 and February 2026, almost 50,000 people were expelled from the country.
Last December, Mr Merz made the end of exceptional border measures conditional on a significant tightening of the EU’s migration policy. (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)