The border controls that Germany has been carrying out since 2024 are in violation of the Schengen Treaty. The court in Koblenz ruled this on Monday. According to the German government, border controls are necessary to combat illegal migration, but the judge concluded that there is no sound basis for this.
The Schengen Treaty guarantees the free movement of people and is one of the foundations of the European Union. According to the treaty, Member States may only carry out border checks when there are exceptional circumstances, such as threats to public order or internal security. According to the judge, the government of the Federal Republic has not sufficiently demonstrated this in this case.
The case was brought by Dominik Brodowski, professor of law at the University of Saarland. On June 11, 2025, the border police pulled over a scheduled bus with him at the border crossing between the German village of Perl and the Luxembourgish Schengen – the same village from which the treaty takes its name. Brodowski had been in Luxembourg for a conference marking the fortieth anniversary of the Schengen Treaty.
Professor Brodowski had been in Luxembourg for a conference celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Schengen Treaty
After the police pulled over the bus, they ordered Brodowski and his fellow passengers to show their identification. Unjustified, Brodowski thought, and he went to court a few days later. He has now vindicated him.
Sudden increase
In the verdict the court said that the border controls would have been justified in the event of a sudden increase in illegal migration, which would put pressure on authorities. But according to the judge there was no “unforeseen development”. On the contrary: migration figures show a decline.
Since the German government introduced border controls in 2024, it has extended them three times. According to the judge, this means that the inspections are increasingly taking on the character of a structural measure, rather than a temporary intervention.
Although the ruling formally only concerns the relevant control at the German-Luxembourg border, all other “temporary” border controls are based on the same substantiation. According to the TV show Tagesschau However, this does not yet have any direct consequences. Border controls do not have to be stopped immediately, and the state can still appeal. Because it concerns European law, the Court of Justice of the European Union must provide a definitive decision in that case.
In a response to the DPA news agency, Professor Brodowski speaks of a “powerful signal”. “The court has shown that in principle we should live in a Europe with open internal borders and that exceptions to this are only permitted within strict frameworks.”
Fatal accident
The German state has previously been reprimanded by the courts for border controls. Last year, an administrative judge ruled that refusing asylum seekers at the border is not in accordance with European agreements.
There is also criticism of the controls in the Netherlands. Last month, the municipalities of Zevenaar, Montferland and Emmerich am Rhein (Germany) sent an urgent letter to the German Ministry of the Interior, in which they draw attention to the problems caused by border controls.
Last weekend, a fatal accident took place near Babberich, in Gelderland. According to Doetinchem Mayor Mark Boumans, the incident was a result of traffic jams due to border controls.
“I don’t think I have to react after every accident, because it seems to have no end,” Boumans said. the Stentor. “I am especially deeply disappointed that the Germans do not come up with a better solution. It’s fine that they want to limit migration, but arrange it in such a way that the side effects are not so terribly harmful.”
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