At the risk of “destroying” Europe because of the unilateral policies of individual member states on immigration, former Chancellor Angela Merkel implicitly criticized the policy of intensified border controls imposed by the government of Friedrich Merz.

“I do not believe that we can definitively fight illegal immigration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish borders,” Merkel said at an event for her book held in the Bavarian town of Neu-Ulm.

Asked about the new government’s measures, the former chancellor said she had always supported European solutions and stressed the need for better guarding of the EU’s external border. “Unilateral actions by individual states could cost Schengen and freedom of movement in Europe. We need to look for solutions within the EU. Otherwise, we might see Europe destroyed and I would not want to live through that,” she said to applause.

Reactions also came from the European Parliament, with Social Democrats’ parliamentary group vice-president Gabriele Bischoff telling Der Spiegel magazine that “the first consequences of (Interior Minister) Alexander Dobrid’s border controls are traffic jams, irritation and delays and a devastating message to cross-border commuters.”

Reservations about the way border checks are carried out were expressed at the same time by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, warning of the risk of checking people who, either by appearance or name, point to the countries of origin of immigrants.

In a report on German public broadcaster ARD, Federal Police Commissioner Uli Grech said he receives complaints about similar discrimination, but dismissed the suggestion that such a policy is being pursued.

“It’s not easy to generalize with cases like this. But it is important to know that the issue is real (…) On the one hand, our mission is to control illegal immigration in Germany and at the same time, the federal police tell me that if we check someone with a different skin colour, we will get into trouble,” the commissioner said, assuring that “everyone is checked, regardless of appearance, skin colour or religion.”