Berlin is extending border controls with Switzerland. The decision was made last Monday at a meeting between Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the minister presidents of the federal states, the German authorities told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA.
Berlin wants to use the border controls to combat irregular immigration and people smuggling, according to a statement on Monday.
Berlin had already announced stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for ten days in mid-October and then extended them by 20 days at the end of October. These internal border controls will now be maintained, according to last week’s decision. …
Ist there really a significant number of immigrants which choose Switzerland as a transit country? If you try to get from e.g. Italy to Germany, why would I voluntarily leave and enter the Schengen area if I could go via France or Austria instead?
Switzerland is in the Schengen area.
Oh, you’re right. Nevertheless, there is a far stricter border control between Germany and Switzerland compared to Germany and France. I drove to/from Switzerland maybe 20 times and most of the time there are people looking at the cars. I got pulled over twice. I drove to/from France way more often and I never even saw the border patrol. So if I planned to immigrate illegaly I’d definitely prefer France over Switzerland.
Are they checking your passports during this stop? Or just doing customs checks?
Both. Once I was stopped with the car and 3 other people. We all had to show our passports and they inspected the bags and trunk etc. The other time I sat in a travel bus from Munich to Milano and when crossing the border, they’ve checked everyone’s passports, had a look in the overhead compartments + the baggage storage area in the bus but without deeper inspection of specific luggage.