Germany Debating on Border Controls for European Football Championship

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced that Germany is likely to tighten border controls during the European Football Championship this summer. Consequently, it will not be easy for the tens of thousands of Hungarian fans with tickets and those traveling to the event without tickets to cheer on the national team in Stuttgart and Cologne, either in the stadium or in the supporters’ zone.

Germany is planning to extend controls on its eastern border, introduced last autumn to curb migration, to all its border crossings during the UEFA EURO 2024, Infostart reports, citing a previous Euractiv article.

According to the newspaper, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists that although illegal migration figures have fallen, there are still many asylum applications registered in Germany. “I therefore think that we will have to extend controls again,” she stressed.

The article mentions that Germany introduced random checks at its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic at the end of September last year, while its border with Austria has been under constant controls since the migrant crisis in 2015. The move has also prompted Germany’s eastern neighbors to introduce checks at their borders with Slovakia to

to stop illegal migrants crossing via Hungary, mostly from Serbia.

The measures are evaluated every six months and must be re-approved by the European Commission. The six-month period for the controls currently in place expires at the end of March.

Faeser also noted that Germany was likely to tighten border controls during the European Championship this summer. The tournament will take place between June 14 and July 14 in ten German cities, with a total of 2.7 million spectators expected to watch the matches in stadiums and a further seven million fans predicted to watch the clashes in public areas in the city centers.

“Host countries tend to defend themselves, therefore

we are likely to introduce controls at all our borders with our neighbors,”

the politician highlighted, adding that police officers from participating countries would also be deployed to assist in the movement and security of their compatriots.

Security issues are also being closely monitored by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). President Aleksander Čeferin has already met the German Interior Minister several times and there will be regular talks in the weeks to come. Ceferin noted that security was the biggest concern in these “crazy times.” “I am not only afraid for the stadiums, and I am sure they will be protected, but also for the fans in the cities,” he stressed.

It will be decided at the end of March whether Israel or Ukraine will qualify for the continental tournament – they are in a knockout stage, hence only one of the teams can make it to Germany. After that, the issue of security could be back on the agenda.

As Világgazdaság previously reported, tens of thousands of Hungarians will travel to the tournament with tickets, and many more without, to cheer on the Hungarian team in Stuttgart and Cologne, in the stadium or in the fan zone. The Hungarian national team is in the same group as the hosts Germany, Scotland, and Switzerland.

Via Infostart, Világgazdaság; Featured image via Facebook/MLSZ Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség