Germany in talks with Poland, Czech Republic over migration border controls

BERLIN

Germany is holding talks with Poland and the Czech Republic about possible “additional border police measures” to keep irregular migrants from entering the country, a government official said on Monday.

At the weekend German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had contacts with her Czech and Polish counterparts, Interior Ministry spokesman Maximilian Kall said at a press briefing in Berlin.

Faeser will also discuss the issue with her Polish counterpart "shortly" before the EU interior ministers' meeting on Thursday, so that additional information can be exchanged and measures could be taken very quickly, he added.

It is about having the federal police present and controlling the entire border area "if necessary even on the other side of the border, as we do with Switzerland, for example, with joint border police measures," according to Kall.

The aim is to catch even more smugglers, he added.

Faeser told Sunday daily Welt am Sonntag that there would be short-term stationary border controls in Poland and the Czech Republic. ​​​​​​​

“In my view, this is an opportunity to combat smuggling crime more aggressively,” she said.