Amid the ongoing irregular migration and people smuggling concerns, Czechia has decided to extend its internal border controls with Slovakia for another month.
The country’s authorities said that the border controls with Slovakia will remain in place until February 2, and during this time, thorough checks will be carried out to prevent any irregular entries into the country, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Border controls with Slovakia were initially introduced in early October, and since then, they have been continuously extended.
According to the Minister of Interior of Czechia, Vit Rakusan, the border controls have proven to be effective, and for this reason, the country has decided to keep them in place for another month.
Minister Rakusan revealed that since the introduction of the internal border controls, more than 680,000 checks have been carried out. The same said that during the same period, the border police prevented the entry of over 1,120 irregular migrants and detained 58 people smugglers.
Czechia is not the only Schengen country that is currently keeping internal border checks in place. Austria and Germany are just some of the countries that have decided to keep border controls for a longer period of time.
In December of last year, Austria decided to prolong its border controls with Czechia for two months, with the authorities not excluding the possibility of extending the measure again.
Back when the measure was extended, the Minister of Interior of Austria, Gerhard Karner, said that the border controls are especially important during this time to prevent people smuggling and irregular migration.
Border controls are currently necessary both to combat the smuggling mafia and to take consistent action against internationally active extremists.
Regarding Germany, the country has decided to keep in place its internal border controls with Poland, Czechia, and Switzerland until March 2024.
Announcing the extension of the measure that aims to prevent smuggling and irregular migration, the German Federal Minister of Interior Nancy Faeser said that the border controls with the three countries will remain effective until March 15, 2024.
As Info Migrants explains, the movement of around 90 per cent of irregular migrants to the bloc is facilitated by smugglers.
Considering this, the Schengen countries decided to introduce stricter rules so that they could prevent such entries.
In November of last year, the member states of the EU and the partner countries came together to forge the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling. The pact proposes a set of measures and policies, including the capacity strengthening for Europol and improved data collection and sharing across countries.