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Nancy Faeser at the panel discussion: "We must do more to combat irregular migration"

Photo: Andreas Arnold / dpa

At the borders with the Czech Republic and Poland, according to Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, stationary controls are also planned to combat smuggling crime. This will be in addition to the veil search, said Faeser at a discussion organized by Hit Radio FFH and the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in Frankfurt. Faeser is also the SPD's top candidate for the Hessian state election on 8 October.

Since autumn 2015, there have been temporary stationary border controls in Bavaria on the border with Austria. They are registered with the EU Commission by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and extended in each case. For other border sections, Faeser has so far not considered such controls, which have to be applied for in Brussels with a lead time of about a month, to be useful.

Faeser emphasized at the discussion on Monday evening that she had never changed her mind on this point. It is now a matter of making it possible to reject unauthorised entry attempts on Polish and Czech territory as well. "We need to do more to combat irregular migration. But we need a permanent solution. This can only exist in Europe," said Faeser.

At the weekend, there were contacts with the Czech Minister of the Interior and, at a high level of officials, also with the Polish side, the ministry said. Faeser will also discuss the issue with her Polish counterpart before the EU interior ministers' meeting on Thursday, so that additional measures can be taken very quickly.

"My goal is maximum investigative pressure on smugglers and the protection of people who are smuggled across borders under life-threatening conditions, often without water and with hardly any oxygen," said Faeser.

The Hessian Prime Minister and CDU top candidate Boris Rhein criticized that no solution has yet been found between the federal and state governments so that the municipalities get more money for the reception of refugees. A federal-state working group on this had stopped its work on Monday and had failed. However, this interpretation was not shared by other participants in the meeting. "The municipalities are urgently waiting for the money. You are at the breaking point. Help the municipalities now with money, but above all with the limitation of migration," Rhein said to Faeser.

Poland tightens controls at border with Slovakia

Meanwhile, in view of increasing migration movements, the government in Poland has ordered stricter controls at the border with its southern neighbour Slovakia. He had ordered checks on minibuses, buses, vans and cars suspected of being able to transport illegally entering migrants, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a campaign appearance in Krasnik, according to the PAP agency.

This is done "so that no one can accuse us that the border there is permeable," said the national conservative politician. According to him, it is known that migrants arrived in Europe on the so-called Balkan route, and then through Hungary and Slovakia to Poland.

The border between Poland and Slovakia is about 540 kilometers long. Both EU member states are part of the Schengen area, where citizens can normally move around without identity checks.

kfr/dpa