Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

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00:00We're going to cross then to Berlin. We're going to speak to our correspondent who joins us from there, Nick Holdsworth.

00:04Nick, how on earth can the German government actually do this in the first place?

00:08I mean, Germany, as I said there, is supposed to be part, isn't it, of the Schengen zone,

00:11which allows for open borders across Europe.

00:16It's fully within the rights of any member state of the European Union

00:21to restrict their borders, to reintroduce controls under emergency measures.

00:27These must be proportionate. They must be for urgent issues.

00:32And in fact, Germany is not the only country that does this across Europe at the moment.

00:37Half a dozen countries have temporary border controls in place with their neighbours.

00:43France has border controls in place with their neighbours good through the end of October.

00:48Denmark is restricting entry in its ports and land borders from Germany.

00:54The Italians have border controls. The Austrians have border controls.

00:59The Slovenians even have border controls. So across Europe this is common.

01:04Most of these countries are citing terrorism concerns and issues with the asylum system.

01:12So this is something which is fully legitimate within the rules of the Schengen agreement area.

01:18Nick, of course, it's leading to lots of allegations that this is really heading

01:23or aimed at heading off the far right ahead of the elections there in Germany.

01:29Well, absolutely. The ruling coalition in Germany has been spooked by the rise of the

01:36AfD, the Alternative for Deutschland, the far right party, which gained first place

01:41in regional elections in Thuringia just over a week ago and second place in Saxony.

01:47Towards the end of this month, there are more elections in Berlin-Brandenburg,

01:51which is the old East German area to the east of the German capital Berlin.

01:56And the AfD are also expected to do well there. These border measures are also in reaction to

02:03recent knife attacks. There were three people murdered in Solingen under two weeks ago by a

02:09knife attacker. And somebody tried to attack the Israeli concert in Munich last week and was shot

02:16dead by police. So there are concerns about terrorism. And that is the reason that the

02:21German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, gave yesterday when she announced the introduction

02:26of these border controls. Germany's already had controls for quite a while now between Poland,

02:32Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland. And indeed, in the last 10 months, it says it has

02:38stopped around 30,000 illegal immigrants entering the country. They've been turned back at its

02:42borders with Austria and those other countries. Nick, thanks so much. Nick Holdsworth,

02:46a correspondent joining us there from Berlin.

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