Source: European Parliament
16.10.2024
Question for written answer E-002115/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Jean-Paul Garraud (PfE)
In September 2024, Germany announced that it was reinstating checks at all its borders to tackle illegal immigration, a major policy issue for Olaf Scholz’s socialist government and for the German people. This announcement came two weeks after the Solingen attack, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility and which left three people dead and eight injured at a local festival. The investigation revealed that the terrorist, a Syrian who had arrived in Germany at the end of 2022, was subject to an expulsion order and should have been returned to Bulgaria, where his arrival in the EU had been registered.
Although Member States can ask the Commission for six-month exemptions in the event of a threat to internal security, as Germany has done, this decision contradicts, in theory, the rules of the Schengen area and of free movement within the European Union.
A Commission spokesperson pointed out that any border controls must be exceptional, necessary and proportionate.
- 1.Does the Commission think an attack that killed three people warrants exceptional measures?
- 2.Does the Commission see the reintroduction of border controls within the EU as a sign that the EU’s external borders are completely permeable?
- 3.As the Commission wishes to limit internal border controls, does it intend to increase Frontex’s budget in order to tighten checks at the EU’s external borders?
Submitted: 16.10.2024