Only a few random entry checks by the federal police have found violations. Politicians from the CDU and the Greens, as well as members of the police unions, want the mandatory testing for entry into Germany to be extended. The FDP opposes this: These measures would be more urgently needed elsewhere.
Although the number of detected violations of the obligation to have coronavirus tests at German borders is small, German government and opposition politicians and police unionists are calling for the continuation and even extension of the controls. However, the measure is controversial – there is political opposition to it, as well as concerns from other police officials.
More than 2 million checked at German borders
Since the introduction of the mandatory test for entry into Germany on August 1, 2,820,972 people have been checked for compliance. As of September 7, 3,727 violations had been found, authorities said in response to an inquiry by WELT AM SONNTAG. Tomorrow, Monday, is the last state in Bavaria to end its summer vacation. That means return traffic will be down.
The highest number of violations, 3,051, were found at the borders with Austria and the Czech Republic. For arrivals from Austria by car or train, in 1,539 cases neither test results nor vaccination or recovery certificates were presented. In the case of arrivals from the Czech Republic, this occurred 1,512 times.
“The number of detected offences is decreasing”
“The number of detected violations is decreasing,” – says a federal police spokesman. “Nevertheless, the checks make sense because they act as a deterrent” – says the president of the police union (GdP) in the federal police, Andreas Roßkopf. However, he admits that “a large number of unreported cases and many undetected violations” can be assumed.
As a result, the CDU/CSU and the Greens in the Bundestag are demanding the continuation of random border checks. “We are far from the end of this pandemic. At the end of June we had about 340 newly infected people a day, and now it is about 14,000 a day,” – Thorsten Frei, vice-chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag, said.
Frei called for that initially, also after the vacations, when entering Germany, one still has to present a certificate that one is vaccinated, has tested negative for coronavirus or has recovered and that this can be checked and punished in case of violation. “We need to prevent additional introduction of the virus across our borders. And not just through vacationers,” – said the politician.
The CDU politician received support from the Green parliamentary group’s internal policy spokeswoman Irene Mihalic: “Firstly, September is still the travel month, and secondly, the number of incidents has been steadily increasing since July,” said the MP and trained police officer. “In the medium term such controls should of course not become the rule in the Schengen area, but at the moment I see no reason to give the green light.”
“Freedom of travel in the EU is a precious good”
Heiko Teggatz, president of the German Police Trade Union (DPolG), responsible for the federal police, said: “Autumn will soon be upon us, followed by the winter holidays and the associated tourist traffic. In view of the increasing infection rates, it is necessary to maintain controls until January.” The legal basis for mandatory testing, the “Coronavirus Pandemic Entry Regulation,” expires at the end of the year.
However, the Bundestag has also expressed its opposition to extending the testing obligation. “Tightening and continuing the drag is not the right way to control the pandemic. We should use federal police resources where they are more urgently needed,” said FDP faction member Stephan Thomae.
“The number of infections is not increasing because of people entering Germany, but because of the transmission of infections inside Germany, especially in the private sphere.” Police unionist Roßkopf notes, “Freedom of travel within the EU is a precious good. Restricting it, no matter how, must be very well justified.”
The district chief of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Bettina Dickes, however, contradicts Thomae’s claim: “According to the findings, up to about a third of the recent increase in the number of illnesses can be attributed to travelers returning to Germany. And since the number of unreported cases is high, probably half of the increase is driven by travelers,” – estimates the CDU politician. The number of illnesses in her district has risen from less than 20 in a month to 129 on Saturday.
Checks are only random
Violations of mandatory testing are reported by the federal police to the relevant health authorities, who can impose fines or order a quarantine. The numbers are then processed by the counties that have the best overview of the development of the coronavirus situation in their area.
The balance of inspections in the district of Bad Kreuznach since the beginning of August is four reported violations, in one case a fine was imposed and a quarantine was ordered – these are not large numbers, but it is worth noting that the inspections are only carried out randomly.
Source: www.welt.de