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Brussels is preparing to review Germany's border practices, while Friedrich Merz's government is considering whether to extend internal Schengen controls...
The European Commission will launch a joint assessment with member states in March to examine how Germany is implementing the rules and safeguards of the Schengen area. Two sources familiar with the process confirmed to POLITICO that the assessment follows a media investigation that revealed that German authorities had flagged several Ukrainian citizens who had served sentences in Russian-controlled prisons as security threats and had barred them from entering the European Union.
The assessment is expected to take a closer look at Berlin's approach to border control. Germany has imposed temporary and random police checks along its national borders and is using technology to influence how other countries manage the EU's external border.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative government has emphasized strict border enforcement as part of its migration and security agenda. According to POLITICO, Merz's administration also sees the checks and deportations as a response to domestic political pressure and growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In March, the government must decide whether to extend the temporary controls, which some say are incompatible with the principle of free movement in the EU, for another six months.
Slovenian MEP Matjaž Nemec, a member of the Schengen border surveillance group in the European Parliament, declared that "the Schengen area is falling apart", criticizing the Commission for its lack of reaction to possible violations by large states such as Germany and France.
According to a POLITICO investigation, Germany entered alerts into the Schengen Information System (SIS) for several Ukrainian refugees who had been imprisoned in Russian-controlled penal institutions. Ukrainian authorities had shared a list of 3,738 former prisoners with the European law enforcement agency, Europol, for informational purposes only. However, some names ended up in the SIS, the database that links EU border and police authorities and enables real-time exchange of alerts.
The German Interior Ministry told POLITICO in writing that entry refusal notices are only issued after individual assessments, when a person is considered a risk to public order or security. The ministry acknowledged that it does not have statistics on the application of these notices to specific groups.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany stressed that it is aware of cases where Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories or transferred to Russia have been contacted or used by Russian intelligence services. According to it, these assessments are shared with other German authorities and can be taken into account in security-related decisions.
However, some MEPs and human rights organizations are calling for the reviews to be based on concrete evidence. Czech MEP Nikola Bartůšek said the increased scrutiny could be legal, but warned that authorities should avoid treating war victims as automatic suspects.
Individual cases cited by POLITICO show that some former Ukrainian prisoners faced refusal of entry into the Czech Republic and Poland because of alerts entered by Germany into the SIS. National authorities stressed that they are obliged to implement the alerts valid at the Schengen level. According to lawyers representing these people, challenging an alert requires time and financial resources that most of them do not have.
The European Commission coordinates annual assessments of the implementation of Schengen rules by member states, through teams of national experts with the support of agencies such as Frontex and Europol. The final reports include recommendations for each country and are summarised in an annual “Scoreboard”.
German MEP Birgit Sippel (SPD) told POLITICO that assessments remain powerless if there is a lack of political will to implement the rules and called for the swift removal of internal controls to preserve the Schengen area.
According to an EU official quoted by POLITICO, the evaluation team will consist of over 60 experts, who will conduct field visits, request documents and analyze whether existing mechanisms prevent the automatic or categorical use of alerts in the SIS.
A February 4 report by the European Data Protection Board noted a lack of complete data from some member states, making it difficult to assess whether individuals’ rights under the SIS are being respected. Data reviewed by POLITICO shows wide differences between countries in how they handle requests for access, correction or deletion of data. In 2024, Germany received 4,169 access requests and approved about half of them, while Slovenia, with 4,249 requests, approved almost all of them.
The Statewatch organization and the digital rights group EDRi criticized the lack of transparency and called on the Commission to strengthen oversight of national authorities.
The upcoming evaluation is expected to show whether German practices comply with Schengen standards and whether guarantees for individual rights work in practice./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Politico"
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