Germany reinstates border controls as country struggles to cope with refugee influx

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Germany 'reinstates border controls as country struggles to cope with record refugee influx'

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 10:37pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 11:48pm

Agence France-Presse

Migrants are escorted by officials while making their way on the platform at the main railway station in Munich. Photo: Reuters

Germany is reinstating controls at its borders with Austria as Europe’s top economy struggles to cope with a record influx of refugees, according to media reports.

Passport checks had been abolished for countries within Europe’s Schengen zone, but the decision to bring back controls is expected to be announced by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere at a press conference on Sunday evening, several German media reports said.

Germany has become the destination of choice for migrants, particularly Syrians, after Chancellor Angela Merkel relaxed asylum rules for citizens of the war-torn country.

A migrant taking a selfie with German Chancellor Merkel outside a refugee camp near the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees after registration at Berlin's Spandau district. Photo: Reuters

About 13,000 refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Munich on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon another 3,000 had arrived. About 450,000 migrants have arrived since the beginning of the year, and infrastructure in Germany is being stretched to the limit.

By reinstating controls, Berlin is seeking to buy time to cope with the influx, according to news magazine the Spiegel.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt had issued a statement earlier Sunday saying that “effective measures are necessary now to stop the influx”.

“That includes help for countries from where refugees are fleeing and also includes an effective control of our own borders which also no longer works given the EU’s complete failure to protect its external borders,” he said.