Bavaria increases checks at border with Czechia

The German state of Bavaria has increased controls at its border with the Czech Republic as of Friday due to increasing numbers of migrants on the so-called Balkan route trying to cross into Germany via Slovakia and Czechia, the Czech News Agency reports. The growing number of migrants coming to Germany via Czechia has been a political topic for several weeks now in the German states of Bavaria and Saxony, both of which share a border with the country. The most common countries of origin for migrants coming to Bavaria were Syria, Turkey, Moldova, Albania and Afghanistan.

At the beginning of September, the head of the German police Heiko Teggatz called on the Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, to reinstate permanent guarding of the border, but she declined to take such a step for now.

The chief political representative of the Sudeten Germans, Bernd Posselt, spoke out against the controls, saying they were contrary to the Schengen agreement and that there was a risk that this part of Europe would become parceled out again. He pointed out that Bavaria, Austria and Czechia have become much closer since the fall of the Iron Curtain and integration into a bloc without border controls and have become a common cultural and living space once again.

The Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann defended the decision, saying it was not only about illegal migrants from Syria, but also a possible threat from Russia.

The Czech Republic recently temporarily restored controls on the Czech-Slovak border. Austria also reinstated checks on the Slovak border last week.