Germany eases controls at Swiss border

Stricter controls at Swiss-German borders have caused massive traffic jams Keystone

Germany has announced it is to ease strict controls at the Swiss border introduced last Friday.

The decision came hours after the economics minister, Joseph Deiss, warned of deteriorating relations between Switzerland and its EU neighbours.

Strict checks on people and vehicles entering Germany from Switzerland – introduced without warning on Friday – led to traffic jams several kilometres long on the Swiss side of the border.

“Border controls are back to normal,” confirmed Rainer Lingenthal, spokesman for the German interior ministry.

Hours before the announcement – which has not been confirmed by Switzerland – Deiss told Swiss parliamentarians the border checks were an example of how EU members wanted to demonstrate the “difference between EU and non-EU countries”.

“We are very close to the EU in our daily lives, but the fact that we are not a member of the union leads to problems every once in a while,” Deiss said.

“I realise now that we are exposed to a series of risks that are linked to the fact that we are not members of the EU.”

Swiss-German relations

Deiss, who currently holds the rotating Swiss presidency, added that there had been signs “for some time” of a deterioration in Swiss-German relations.

But the German government denied media reports that the measures were a tit-for-tat response to Switzerland’s reluctance to sign a treaty aimed at curbing tax evasion.

“Such wild speculation has no basis in reality. Germany enjoys an excellent relationship with Switzerland,” Lingenthal said.

EU officials have defended Germany’s decision to impose stricter border controls, arguing that the country was simply complying with the Schengen accord governing cross-border crime between EU and non-EU nations. That accord has been in force since 1995.

“All the German authorities were doing was respecting [the demands of] the Schengen accord,” said a spokesman for the European Commissioner, Antonio Vitorino.

Customs tax

The move by Germany to impose stricter checks at the Swiss border comes less than a month after the European Commission unexpectedly announced plans to levy a customs tax on re-exports from Switzerland to its member states.

Two weeks ago the EU agreed to delay the introduction of the tax until June 1 after the Swiss authorities lodged an official protest in Brussels.

Swiss commentators have speculated that attempts by Brussels to tax re-exports as well as the five-day period of strict controls at the German border prove that EU member states are stepping up pressure on Switzerland.

Stalled negotiations

Negotiations with the EU on a second set of bilateral accords have stalled as Bern and Brussels struggle to agree on how to proceed with discussions on nine bilateral treaties.

The EU wants Switzerland to sign up to one of the treaties – which would involve Switzerland transferring a levy on EU residents’ savings in Swiss banks to Brussels – as soon as possible.

Deiss has repeatedly maintained that Switzerland will only sign the accord once agreement has been reached on all the treaties.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

Germany imposed tight checks on people and vehicles leaving Switzerland on Friday.

Germany insisted that the move was in line with the standards set out by the EU’s Schengen accord governing cross-border crime.

On Wednesday afternoon the German government announced that the border controls were back to normal.

The Swiss government said it had not yet been informed that the stricter measures have been lifted.

Switzerland has not yet signed the accord, which first came into effect in 1995.