The question remains whether controls at the German border will remain in place. The German court ruled this week that border controls at Luxembourg violate the Schengen Treaty, making the call for open borders among residents and companies in the Dutch-German border region increasingly louder.
“We have been committed to an open border region for fifty years, so it is very strange that you start imposing border controls and therefore obstacles,” says director Vincent ten Voorde of the Eems Dollard Region (EDR), the organization that stands up for residents and companies in the border region of the Northern Netherlands and Germany.
German border controls were introduced two years ago, intended to curb illegal migration, although they have also led to criticism. “These are structural checks where people have to get off the highway, are checked and are stuck in traffic jams: that causes a lot of inconvenience,” says Ten Voorde. “At the same time, it also causes cut-through traffic in cities and villages around the border controls, because people leave the highway before the border crossing. So you can also question the effectiveness of border controls, because the border region is affected by them.”
An argument that carries even more weight for him is the disappearing mentality of the open border region. “The most annoying thing is that these controls destroy the open-border mentality, which I think is a great shame.”
For similar reasons, a German criminal law professor filed a case against the German government after he was recently checked at the border with Luxembourg. An interesting detail is that the professor was on his way back from the celebration of 40 years of the Schengen Treaty, which guarantees free movement of people between EU member states. He went to court in Koblenz, Germany, which ruled that the checks violated the treaty.
“And the number of migrants who are ‘caught’ at border controls is minimal, especially if you compare it to the number of checks carried out. So the goal is not being achieved, to put it bluntly, what we see happening is also a bit for the stage,” says Ten Voorde.
However, this does not yet mean that border controls have been abolished, because the German Ministry of the Interior is preparing for an appeal. “So nothing will change immediately,” Ten Voorde expects. “We do see the ruling as confirmation that there is something wrong with the argumentation behind the border controls.”
That is why EDR, together with the Association of Dutch Municipalities and Border Municipalities, continues to work for an open border region, with free movement of goods and people. “I regularly cross the border at Emmen, where it’s really crazy because there are regular traffic jams.”
This image is confirmed by director Herman Idema of Ondernemend Emmen. “You drive through border control and think: why am I standing still here? I have never seen a truck being stopped. It only causes inconvenience and delay.”
Although the last word on the matter has not yet been said, there is cautious optimism at Idema. “The border controls are generic measures, so if the court’s ruling stands, the border controls will not only stop in Luxembourg. Then everything will be off the table,” he expects.
And Idema would be very happy with that. According to him, the checks are ‘as leaky as a basket’, because not all four hundred border crossings are checked. “In terms of content, border controls are pointless. If you really want to do something, you have to start checking Europe’s external borders.”
Ten Voorde also agrees with this. “The border controls now cause costs for entrepreneurs, for example higher transport costs because they are stuck at the border for longer. What we want together in Europe is for the internal borders to be open, where we benefit from each other’s strengths and powers.”
