On June 4 at a session of the EU Council in Luxembourg, Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt made it clear: passport controls at nine internal borders of the country will remain in place. Despite requests from the European Commission — and despite the fact that the Schengen Code defines such checks as a temporary exception, not the norm.
What is actually happening
Controls were introduced by the Scholz government in 2024 — following a series of high-profile attacks by migrants. But the current Merz government not only retained them but expanded them: as InfoMigrants reports, from March 2025, checks have been in place at borders with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland. The deadline has been extended to March 2026.
Dobrindt claims the measures have delivered results — reducing illegal entry and countering human trafficking. The European Commission formally agreed to the extension, citing "serious threats to public order," but in parallel insists on a return to unrestricted movement.
The legal threshold Berlin has not yet crossed — but is approaching
The Schengen Code allows temporary internal checks initially for six months with the possibility of extension — but in total no more than two years. As InfoMigrants notes, this limit is already looming on the horizon. Migration analyst Gerald Knaus warns: if courts — in particular the EU Court of Justice — find German practice illegal, and Berlin ignores it, this will feed precisely those parties, including AfD, that already call for leaving Schengen.
"The government should take the opportunity and lift some controls this summer"
— Gerald Knaus, migration analyst, InfoMigrants
Dobrindt, for his part, is pursuing a parallel strategy: he is forming a "coalition of the willing" within the EU to strengthen the common asylum system (GEAS) and external borders — calculating that this will ultimately allow him to restore Schengen without internal checks.
Broader context: Germany is not alone
Berlin is not unique here — Austria, Poland and several other countries are also maintaining or expanding internal controls. But Germany, with its central geographical and political position, sets the tone: if the EU's largest economy normalizes a retreat from Schengen, others gain additional justification to do the same.
- 9 borders — checks are in place at all internal borders of Germany
- Until March 2026 — the officially extended deadline for controls
- 2 years — the maximum allowed by the Schengen Code without new legal grounds
- GEAS — the EU's new common asylum system, on which Dobrindt pins his hopes, was set to begin operating in June 2025
Dobrindt's bet is clear: withstand pressure from Brussels, show voters results and wait for the reformed pan-European system to eliminate the need for control organically. But if GEAS doesn't work as expected, or if courts halt German practice sooner — Berlin will have to either retreat publicly or openly clash with European law.
Whether this strategy will hold until March 2026 depends on one thing: whether any of the neighboring countries will file a lawsuit at the EU Court of Justice before Dobrindt manages to present statistics on reduced illegal entry.
