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Schallenberg welcomes debate on border controls in the EU

by AI | 30.Jan 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Chancellor candidate Merz’s announcement to permanently control the German borders shows realism and pragmatism, according to Austria’s interim chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.

Austria's interim chancellor Schallenberg participated in the Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels. Photo: Michael Gruber/BMEIA/dpa

Brussels – Interim Chancellor and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) commented on the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday in Brussels on the proposal by the German CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz to permanently monitor the borders with Germany’s neighboring countries. In response to a journalist’s question, Schallenberg said he was pleased that a rethinking was taking place in Germany and that there was more realism and pragmatism.

Over the weekend, Merz had announced permanent border controls with neighboring countries in the event of his election as chancellor, as a reaction to the attack in German Aschaffenburg, where a man and a small child were killed by an Afghan who was required to leave the country. Schallenberg stated that Austria has been the country in continental Europe with the highest number of asylum applications per capita since 2015. “I welcome every EU country that approaches the matter with greater pragmatism.”

However, he emphasized that the rules of the Schengen Code must still be observed. This code regulates the crossings at the internal and external borders of the so-called Schengen area. Schallenberg appealed for “joint solutions”: “If each of us now raises the drawbridges individually, we are all poorer and none of us is safer.” However, the public debate in the European Union is finally moving in the right direction.

“Heat of the battle in Vienna, not in Strasbourg”

The statement by the Freedom Party MEP Petra Steger, who last week in Strasbourg described the European Parliament as the “heart of injustice,” did not want to be further commented on by the interim chancellor. “The heat of the battle is currently taking place in Vienna during the government negotiations, not in Strasbourg. I only note: The lady has made an effort to enter this institution.” At a panel event organized by the MP together with AfD European politician Alexander Jungbluth, Steger criticized “censorship” by European authorities.

Meanwhile, German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) warned emphatically on Sunday against a takeover of the right-wing in Germany. “If it can happen in Austria, it can happen in Germany too,” Habeck said at the Green Party congress in Berlin. “And the decision whether it will come to that is now up for election.” (30.1.2025)