Fringe pro-Europe party Volt is set to stage a protest against border checks that Luxembourg’s neighbours France and Germany are imposing and that have drawn the fury of commuters and locals.
Before the end of the week, Luxembourg will be faced with controls at borders with both Germany and France. German checks re-started on 16 September, after also being imposed during the Euro 2024 football tournament this summer, and France will reintroduce them from 1 November.
The measures have drawn the fury of both Luxembourg residents and cross-border commuters. Critics say the border checks de-facto dissolve the Schengen Agreement, which has ended internal border checks in Europe.
Among the critics is the Volt party, which defines itself as a pan-European defender of European unity.
Also read:French assurances on checks relieve border communities
Members of the party have called a rally that will see participants cross into all three countries, at Schengen, Apach (France) and Perl (Germany), on Saturday 2 November.
Volt had planned a symbolic event in 2025 – 40 years after the Schengen Agreement was signed, and 30 years after in came into force – but decided to bring it forward in response to the French and German moves. “Given the context, we wanted to organise a march earlier,” said the party’s general secretary, Daniel Silva.
Volt considers the return of border controls to be “a step backwards for European unity and free movement”. According to Silva, “the police unions believe that border controls at the German border have served no purpose other than to increase the workload and the mobilisation of staff.” Silva says the security problem is very real, but that border checks do nothing to help.
Also read:Number of Luxembourg citizens living abroad rises sharply
About the march
On the day of the demonstration, participants will meet in Apach, on the French side, at the Les P’tites Pousses childcare centre, near the model of the Eiffel Tower, from 13:00.
“The French authorities have forced us to start at this point instead of going up the main street, so we have to respect that,” Silva said. After speeches in French and English, the marchers will head towards Perl, on the German side, for further speeches in German and English. Finally, the demonstrators will move to the Luxembourg side, towards the monument to the Schengen Agreements, for final speeches in Luxembourgish and English.
Also read:Border checks ineffective in illegal migration fight, says Luxembourg PM
The French ministry of the interior defended the return of checks. “This is simply a renewal of the controls that have been in place since 2015. France has notified the European Commission of the extension of internal border controls for a further six months, as has been the case since 2015,” a statement said.
Under Schengen rules, countries can impose border controls for a maximum of six months at a time by notifying the commission and explaining the reasons. France has imposed border checks for specific reasons, such as the Tour de France, the COP21 climate negotiations, Euro 2016 – and in response to terror attacks in Paris and Nice.
On other occasions, the country has simply cited an elevated terror threat as justification.
From 1 November to April 2025, the country cites a variety reasons: “Serious threats to public policy, public order, and internal security posed by high-level terrorist activities, the growing presence of criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and migration flows that risk infiltration by radicalised individuals […].”
(This article first appeared in Virgule. Translation, editing, additional reporting by Alex Stevensson.)
Source link : https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/protest-announced-against-germany-and-france-border-controls/24086866.html
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Publish date : 2024-10-28 17:50:00
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