Amidst Migration Wave, Slew of Central European States Reintroduce Border Controls
A border crossing in Šahy, Slovakia on Oct. 5, 2023, after Slovakia reintroduced temporary border controls. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
In a sharp reversal of trends since the COVID-19 pandemic, Central European Schengen area countries (i.e. European Union member states who have joined the visa-free and, essentially, internal border-free zone) have opted to reintroduce border controls of various intensity temporarily. This is a diversion from the ease of commute and travel guaranteed by the Schengen agreement, whereby residents of Schengen countries can live and work in other Schengen countries with ease.
The enactment of controls began when, earlier in October, Germany’s center-left government announced the ‘immediate’ reintroduction of police controls along “smuggling routes”–including the increased presence of police along its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic (Czechia)–in order to quell further migration from the East. Soon afterward, Czechia and Austria announced that they, similarly, were to temporarily reintroduce controls along their border crossings with neighboring Slovakia “in an effort to stem a flow of migrants.”
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner claimed that Austria’s goal in this change of policy is to “prevent [human] smugglers from using alternative routes.” Karner’s Czech counterpart, Vit Rakusan, seemed to second Austria’s claim, citing “human smugglers” and Prague’s intent to “effectively fight” their entry. Czechia’s plans included the deployment of 130 guards to operate at official crossings between Slovakia and Czechia as well as at strategic points along the entire border.
German federal police officers controlling the Czech-German border in Furth am Wald, Germany, on Oct. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Slovakia’s leadership, amidst a controversial election period in which divisive and Russophilic Robert Fico is attempting to form a governing coalition, initially criticized Czechia and Austria, calling for an EU-wide solution to increasing migration. Bratislava’s outgoing government announced that, due to “a dramatic rise in migrants crossing into its territory,” Slovakia would conduct traffic checks along its intra-Schengen border with Hungary.
Despite Hungary’s comparatively aggressive stance towards migration, Slovakia registered nearly 40,000 migrants between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1, more than an eleven-fold increase since last year. Most recently, Balkan nation Slovenia deployed agents to its borders with Croatia and Hungary. The center-left ruling coalition in Ljubljana cited security concerns from “members of various terrorist and extremist groups.”
The European Union, which has faced a “significant” hike in migration from African nations and Syria, is “increasingly” worried about the potential fallout from the Israel-Hamas war. Migrants to Western Europe tend to enter the Schengen zone via the “Balkan Route”: from Serbia via its border with Hungary, despite Budapest’s 320-kilometer border wall erected in 2015. These border controls, Europe hopes, will serve as a short-term attempt by individual states to stop migrants from entering on land.