Is the rise in internal border controls ending the EU dream?

In June 2025, the village of Schengen in the southwest of the tiny EU state of Luxembourg will see big celebrations. It was in Schengen on June 14, 1985, that ministers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany signed the agreement that paved the way for border crossings between their states without identity controls.

This was the nucleus of what has become known as the Schengen Area, which now covers 25 EU countries, as well as the non-EU nations of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The freedom of movement most Europeans enjoy today is often referred to by the European Commission as one of the "crown jewels" of European integration. The jewel is starting to lose some of its luster, however.

Luxembourg's interior minister, Leon Gloden, is critical of those Schengen nations that have reintroduced border checks in response to large numbers of migrants.

"This is unacceptable to Luxembourg," Gloden said at the EU interior ministers' meeting on December 12, 2024. "Schengen is one of the EU's greatest achievements. We cannot allow borders to re-establish themselves in people's minds."

More controls than ever before

2024 has seen more border controls at internal borders than at any time since the Schengen Area was established.

Germany has reintroduced checks at all its land borders with its nine neighbors for the first time since becoming a Schengen member. Controls were already in place along its southern border with Austria; these have there since 2015, to deter migrants arriving via the Balkan route.

France also reintroduced border controls in 2015, citing terrorism concerns, but it has only sporadically enforced them.

Most countries that carry out checks only do so along certain sections of their borders. Foreigners without valid documents, or those subject to an entry ban because of previous violations, are turned back at internal borders.

Anyone who applies for asylum at the border itself is provisionally allowed to enter, and is then taken to a primary reception center. EU law does not permit members to turn all asylum-seekers away.

On December 9, 2024, the Netherlands also introduced border controls for travelers entering from Germany and Belgium.

At almost exactly the same time, the EU interior ministers agreed that Romania and Bulgaria would become full members of the Schengen Area on January 1, 2025. Controls at the land borders to the southeastern EU member states will therefore be discontinued. Airport controls for internal EU flights were abolished last year.

When the exception becomes the rule

The European Parliament and the European Commission repeatedly stress that systematic identity controls at the internal borders of the Schengen Area must be the "absolute exception" and should only be used as a "last resort."

However, each member state is able to introduce border controls for up to six months, if it provides the European Commission with a valid justification. These controls can then be extended for a maximum of two or, in extreme cases, three years.

After that, the justification must be changed. This often requires some creativity. So far, the European Commission has not initiated any formal procedures for violations of the Schengen Borders Code, yet some countries have kept controls in place for as long as 10 years.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced that comprehensive controls at all German borders are to continue indefinitely, until the number of incoming migrants falls to an unspecified level.

"As long as the numbers in Germany remain as high as they are, the controls will remain in place," she said. "The Schengen Area is of great importance to Germany, but there also needs to be a better distribution of refugees."

This was a reference to the EU's asylum procedure, according to which asylum seekers and refugees should be taken in by the states in which they first entered the European Union.

But in practice, this doesn't happen. Many migrants continue their journey from Greece, Italy, Croatia or Spain to northern EU countries such as Germany.

What is the impact of the controls?

The actual impact of border controls within the Schengen Area is a matter of debate. Statistics from the German police force, which deploys as many as 11,000 officers, indicate that tens of thousands of people attempt unauthorized entry, with about half turned back on the spot. The other half apply for asylum. They show that human traffickers have been arrested, and thousands of outstanding arrest warrants enforced.

However, the German police union, the GDP, estimates that the actual number both of unauthorized entries and of people turned away is far lower. Also, as the head of the police union, Andreas Rosskopf, points out, controls are only possible at certain points on major roads. After all, Germany has a 7,000-kilometer-long (4,350 mile-long) border with numerous road and rail connections to neighboring nations.

Police only check a fraction of the people entering the country by car or train. They have been given clear instructions by the Interior Ministry to limit themselves to random spot checks, to avoid causing massive traffic jams.

Rosskopf told the German news network RND that long-distance buses coming southern Europe are sometimes stopped on the Autobahn, but many bus drivers are now familiar with the possible control points and divert to smaller roads.

'Sense of security'

The new EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration, Austria's Magnus Brunner, is also responsible for the Schengen Area. He expressed understanding for the proliferation of border controls.

"We need to improve security within the European region," he said. "But we must adhere to legal requirements. We need to work on better protecting the external borders, in order to give people the sense that we have control once again over who enters."

It's very uncertain whether this will happen before the 40th anniversary of the Schengen agreement in 2025.

Nonetheless, Luxembourg still plans to celebrate the "birthplace of borderless Europe," as Schengen likes to call itself, next June.

This article was originally published in from German.