The Dutch government has decided to introduce border checks at its internal #Schengen borders with Germany, Belgium, as well as at airports. These will start in December and will initially last until June 2025. Why is this such an interesting development? 👇 - ThreadSky

danielschade.bsky.social • 101 days ago

The Dutch government has decided to introduce border checks at its internal #Schengen borders with Germany, Belgium, as well as at airports. These will start in December and will initially last until June 2025.

Why is this such an interesting development? 👇

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danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

The Netherlands have been one of the few countries which have resisted introducing Schengen border controls. Throughout the history of Schengen, the country only used border checks on few occasions and for very brief periods. The last time this happened was for a nuclear security summit in 2014.

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

This means that, unlike for many peers, neither the 2015 migration "crisis" nor the Covid-19 pandemic led the country to introduce border checks. A mutual agreement during Covid even meant that while Germany had introduced checks at many of its borders, the border with the Netherlands remained open.

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

This is why the decision to introduce border controls now marks such an important change from before. While most EU countries already have existing experiences with justifying such controls, this is new for the Netherlands, and makes looking at the government's arguments even more relevant.

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

Luckily one can now take a look at the notification which Dutch asylum and immigration minister Marjolein Faber sent to the EU's institutions.

Unlike the earlier amateurish letter on migration policy opt-outs, which was clearly meant for public consumption, this one targets a professional audience.

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

It is perhaps no surprise that the main argument for border controls is various policy challenges related to migration.

The letter itself is fairly short compared to those of other EU member states, however there is a more detailed attachment, which is a checklist of sorts.

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

This is unlike anything I have seen before but ultimately makes a more detailed case on the need for border checks. Perhaps unsurprisingly the argumentation somewhat struggles to make the case for border checks all while acknowledging that irregular migration to the EU has actually fallen.

michielvanhulten.eu•101 days ago

Three thoughts. One, despite what the stamp says, that's definitely not an email. Two - is the term "your excellency" normally used to address European Commissioners? Three - that signature?!

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

Giving the minister a printed letter to sign and then sending it as a PDF e-mail attachment is actually pretty normal. The address actually varies widely and ranges from "dear colleagues" (the letter also goes to the Council) to having none at all. "Excellency" is indeed quite unusual.

tovemalloy.bsky.social•99 days ago

We’ve had this at the German-Danish border since 2015. A purely political decision by the Danish government that makes life difficult for up to 15.000 commuters a day 😠 The arrangement is renewed every 6 month. In October the German government decided to follow suit. So now 2 checks a day 🤬

shanzshenaniganz.bsky.social•99 days ago

I’ve only noticed the checks since 2021 after pandemic restrictions were lifted. When I was in Denmark in 2016 and 2017, the route through Flensburg didn’t have any checks when I went through.

curatorymy.bsky.social•101 days ago

Brilliant thread! Does this signal that Schengen might come to an end, or we will have mini-schengen zones? Or is that still unlikely?

danielschade.bsky.social•101 days ago

It has already struggled onwards since 2015. I doubt that this will change now. Plus no one can afford to formally end Schengen as actual border checks everywhere would require hiring a lot more police officers.

rettopnoj.bsky.social•101 days ago

Plus significant remodeling of most airports I would have thought.

drjoep.bsky.social•101 days ago

Yeah, why?

leonzue.bsky.social•100 days ago

Thanks a lot for these insights, @danielschade.bsky.social ! In 🇩🇪 we are quite used to that by now... Especially the reasoning of the notifications became quite "creative", not to say wild. For a detailled analysis see this expert opinion I co-authored: https://erik-marquardt.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Gutachten-Binnengrenzkontrollen_EN.pdf

johnbrown1325.bsky.social•101 days ago

How will this work in practice? The physical border posts have been removed on most motorway crossings, and there’s no infrastructure at the border, so would require a lot of temporary stuff to slow down traffic, inspect vehicles, host officers, etc.

tonero72.bsky.social•100 days ago

If I remember correctly, open borders with Belgium predate the EU, going back to Benelux. I may be wrong.

rscholtalbers.bsky.social•101 days ago

Great thread about a worrying development. The letter cites preventing "further disruption to the migration system" as the main motive. (How) will this work in practice?

dahadzic.bsky.social•99 days ago

very good thread. thanks. further outlines both amateurish and sinister nature of the current NL gvmt. with one bomb going off in Rotterdam every day and not enough police to tackle it, this is such a populist move. what are the chances that we will have a new gvmt by the time the measure expires?

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