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During the European Football Championship, Germany's external borders were systematically monitored for around five weeks. The result: thousands of illegal migrants, wanted criminals and violent offenders, as well as criminal smugglers, were caught by federal police officers. An impressive result that shows how effective close monitoring of our borders can be. „We were able to execute over 1,000 arrest warrants, identify over 100 politically motivated criminals, over 100 violent hooligans and a good 8,000 unauthorised entries,“ said police union representative Andreas Roßkopf, summing up the results.
The strict border controls during the European Football Championship were „a complete success,“ according to the police union. However, extending these measures has failed due to a lack of personnel and funding. Politicians are stubbornly blocking effective protection of our borders.
This includes Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag: „I think it is worth considering maintaining the border controls that we introduced for the European Championships. The controls at German borders mean that we are very effective at apprehending those who want to enter the country illegally.“
CSU Secretary General Martin Huber also summed it up aptly: „The large number of hits and rejections within a few weeks during the European Championship clearly show that border controls are indispensable for internal security and the containment of illegal migration.“
Police union representative Andreas Roßkopf continues: „As long as European external border protection is not functioning as it should, we must of course take measures here in Germany at our internal borders.“ This requires „modern, flexible border controls, i.e. border controls without waiting times for commuters or the movement of goods“. Roßkopf emphasises that the federal police need effective resources such as drones and cameras, modern search and processing vehicles, and flexible control facilities. But the „federal police are short of around 500 million euros this year,“ according to Roßkopf.
So why does Interior Minister Faeser categorically reject maintaining border controls at Germany's external borders? It worked during the European Football Championship! And border controls with France have also been ordered for the Olympic Games.
To summarise: The protection of the EU's external border is not working. The protection of Germany's external border is failing due to a lack of funds. Without border controls, no one knows exactly how many people are coming to us and what the ultimate cost will be. It has been proven that systematic border controls would be successful. But in Germany, the world's third-largest economy, they are not financially feasible. Or politically desirable.
So, apparently, €500 million is missing. Let's look for it in the federal budget. The federal cabinet has just presented its draft for 2025. According to this, the federal government wants to spend around €480 million next year. billions Spend euros. 13.748 billion euros will go to Ms Faeser's Home Office, around 400 million euros more than in 2024. But apparently, the money is not enough for effective border protection. Why is that?
Where German taxpayers' money ends up:
In 2022, the German government provided around €33.9 billion in „development aid“ to countries in Africa, South America and Asia. More recent figures are not yet available, but the amount is unlikely to have decreased significantly. In 2025, Svenja Schulze alone will be able to distribute over €10 billion across the planet.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), headed by Svenja Schulze (SPD), is providing financial support for these projects, among others:
- Establishment of a modern tax administration in Cameroon (€5 million)
- Promotion of renewable energies in Senegal (€27 million)
- Improving water and sanitation services in Timbuktu, Mali (€24.5 million)
- Energy efficiency in public buildings in Montenegro (€82.9 million)
- Digital reform of the healthcare system in Uzbekistan (€53.7 million)
- Biodiversity in Mexico's mountains and highlands (25 million euros)
- Municipal environmental protection in Colombia (€80.5 million)
- Climate-friendly public transport systems in Latin America (€106.5 million)
- Biodiversity in Paraguay (€6 million)
- Construction of a cycle path network in Lima, Peru (€20 million)
- Urban climate adaptation in El Salvador (€12.6 million)
- Water and sanitation in Benin, Africa (15 million euros)
Svenja Schulze philosophises about worthwhile investments. She does not say for whom. There are 450 examples in total. Every euro of German tax money that the government invests in development aid today will later save „four euros in humanitarian emergency aid,“ according to the minister. She does not explain the connection.
But all of that can easily be surpassed. Let's look at development aid for India, the world's fifth-largest economy, whose top computer scientists we would love to attract to Germany, which has nuclear missiles and recently successfully landed a probe on the moon:
- Sustainable urban development – Smart Cities India (€164.6 million)
- Energy efficiency programme in India (€122.7 million)
- Climate-resilient urban infrastructure India (€144.1 million)
- Several projects for climate-friendly urban mobility in India (up to 210.9 million euros each).
Aid for India? Have we missed something? These expenditures are only part of Germany's development aid for India. Back in 2022, the BMZ pledged €987 million to India. And a few weeks ago, the German government even announced that it would transfer a further €10 billion to India over the next few years to finance climate protection.
But it is not only the BMZ that is generously distributing German taxpayers„ money around the world. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, led by Robert Habeck (Bündnis90/Die Grünen), is providing €4.6 million in funding for “green refrigerators" in Colombia. Here are some other projects being carried out by his ministry:
- Low-emission travel generation in Thailand (€8.1 million)
- Energy-efficient renovation of residential buildings in Mongolia (€6.2 million)
- Climate policy in Brazil (11.3 million euros)
- Clean energy in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam (€29.6 million)
- Urban climate protection measures in China, India and elsewhere (€22.6 million)
- Support for Peru's national climate change strategy (€6.4 million)
- Climate policy and biodiversity in Thailand (10 million euros)
- Renewable energies in Chile (1.7 million euros)
The list goes on. China, the second-largest economy, is also involved with around half a billion euros. Half a billion? That reminds me... We almost forgot our Foreign Secretary. Ms Baerbock always has the black, red and gold cheque book in her pocket when she jets around the world with the Federal Ministry of Defence's air transport service – provided the plane doesn't break down.
It is evident that with such expenditures, 500 million for the protection of German borders is simply not feasible! You must understand this, dear taxpayer! Really!
Further sources:
https://www.dw.com/de/streit-um-grenzkontrollen-in-deutschland-geht-weiter/a-69654849
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/hunderte-unerlaubte-einreisen-vor-em-100.html
