Why is Germany strengthening its border controls now?

euronews (in English)

Germany is set to impose stricter border controls with several neighbouring countries starting next week, following deadly migrant attacks that fueled far-right gains in recent state elections.

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00:00Germany has announced stricter controls along its land borders with France, Belgium, the

00:08Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg to begin from next week and to last for a minimum of

00:13six months. These measures are being introduced as a last resort following a series of deadly

00:19knife attacks by migrants which sparked public fury and are largely seen as the catalyst

00:25to the far right party gaining the most amount of seats in state elections in Germany since

00:30the second world war. The third East German state of Brandenburg is set to vote in just

00:35under two weeks and polls suggest that security is top priority amongst voters. Tighter controls

00:43at the Austrian, Swiss, Czech and Polish borders are already in place and the German government

00:48is hoping that by introducing these new stricter measures it can continue to return thousands

00:54of migrants at the border. However experts are warning that the danger of the far right

00:59is not just that they can get enough votes to govern alone as this seems unlikely but

01:03rather that parties on the left may begin to adopt far right policies in a bid to claw

01:08back voters especially ahead of the federal elections next year. Liv Stroud in Berlin

01:15for Euronews.

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