Dobrindt defends German border checks as EU commissioner presses for their end

Brunner, who is Austrian and serves as the EU's Migration Commissioner, used an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers to demand a phased reduction. „Aus Sicht der EU-Kommission sei ein schrittweises Zurückfahren der Grenzkontrollen möglich und angebracht – auch in Deutschland," he said. He framed the request as part of a broader effort to make the border-free Schengen area function again: „der grenzfreie Schengenraum müsse wieder funktionieren."

Brunner pushes for a phased rollback

The dispute comes one week before the Common European Asylum System, known in German as GEAS, is scheduled to enter into force on 12 June. The reform accelerates asylum procedures at the EU's external borders, speeds up returns of rejected applicants, and introduces a more even distribution of responsibility across EU countries. It also aims to curb secondary migration, meaning onward travel by asylum seekers to other EU states after arrival.

Brunner pointed to sharply falling asylum applications as a reason internal controls could be eased. He said asylum numbers have dropped drastically, and he argued that agreed measures such as external border protection and the new EU-wide entry and exit system, known as EES, are taking effect: „Zum anderen greifen die beschlossenen Maßnahmen wie der Außengrenzschutz und das gemeinsame EU-weite Einreise- und Ausreisesystem."

Nine countries, one set of rules under strain

Germany is not alone in reintroducing checks. According to the Commission, nine Schengen states currently operate temporary controls at their internal borders, citing refugee movements. Besides Germany, the list includes Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. The Netherlands is among the nine, and the diversity of countries illustrates how widespread the practice has become since the migration pressures of recent years.

The Schengen Borders Code allows internal border controls only in cases of "außergewöhnlicher Umstände" – exceptional circumstances – and then only "vorübergehend" and as a "letztes Mittel." The Commission argues that, with the new asylum reform in place, the justification for those temporary measures is weakening. It formally recommended an end to the controls earlier this week, pointing to the asylum package as the basis for that recommendation.

What the new asylum package changes

Dobrindt, a member of the CSU, ordered the tightened German controls immediately after the new black-red federal government of CDU/CSU and SPD took office. He has framed the policy as a domestic security and migration-management tool, and he has resisted calls from Brussels and some EU capitals to roll them back. The Funke Mediengruppe reported that he made clear he wants to keep the checks, stating that they have had a clearly positive effect on the overall migration situation: „diese hätten eine deutlich positive Wirkung auf das gesamte Migrationsgeschehen gehabt."

Brunner, for his part, has stressed that the reforms do not undermine the fundamental right to seek asylum. He said there is "keinen Zweifel" about the continued existence of that right, and he added: „Das Recht auf Asyl bleibt bestehen." He has also insisted that the planned asylum centres at the EU's external border must meet minimum standards in healthcare, education and basic living conditions, stating that "faire Lebensbedingungen herrschen" must prevail.

The new EES, the EU's automated entry and exit system for non-EU travellers, is set to come into force in the coming week alongside the asylum reform. Supporters say the system will give border authorities a clearer picture of who is moving in and out of the bloc, reducing the need for the kind of ad hoc internal controls that have proliferated. Critics, including some national governments, argue that the technology is untested at scale and that physical checks remain a necessary backstop.

Dobrindt's insistence on keeping the controls reflects a wider political reality in Germany, where migration has been a dominant campaign issue. The interior ministry's line has been that national measures are needed regardless of EU-level reforms, at least until the new system is fully operational. Officials in Berlin have also pointed to cooperation with neighbouring countries, suggesting that German checks have a knock-on stabilising effect along migration routes through the Balkans and into northern Europe.

What happens next at the border

Brunner's call for restraint is rooted in the Commission's responsibility to safeguard Schengen as a shared public good. He has framed the gradual reduction of internal controls as both legally required under the Borders Code and politically desirable, since prolonged checks erode public trust in the freedom-of-movement promise that underpins the EU single market. He has also suggested that countries that maintain controls should be pressed to justify them with up-to-date data rather than open-ended emergency claims.

The Commission's recommendation is not legally binding, but it carries political weight. Member states that want to keep internal controls in place after the new asylum system launches will need to submit fresh notifications to Brussels and show that the exceptional-circumstances test is still met. Germany's existing notification, like those of the other eight countries, will come up for review in the months after 12 June, putting Berlin and the Commission on a slow collision course.

A wider test for Schengen

For now, the disagreement is unlikely to produce an immediate change at Germany's borders. Dobrindt has signalled that he will not soften his position before the new system is fully up and running, and he has pointed to encouraging early figures on asylum applications and irregular entries. Brunner, speaking ahead of the 12 June milestone, has made clear that Brussels will continue to argue for a Schengen area that lives up to its name: open internal borders, with the heavy lifting done at the EU's external edges.

The exchange underscores a broader tension inside the EU between national governments that have leaned on border controls to respond to voter concern, and a Commission that wants the new asylum rules to do that work instead. The coming weeks, with both the GEAS reform and the EES going live, will offer the first real test of whether the new framework can convince countries like Germany that the era of widespread internal checks is drawing to a close.