The Hague – Nour Eddine Amrani

The Dutch government intends to end internal border controls after the summer. The previous government had introduced them in the hope of deterring many "irregular migrants." The new government team believes that border monitoring can be more effective.

Minister for Asylum and Migration, Van den Brink, announced on Friday that he wants to end internal border controls "no later than September 30." These controls have been criticized by Dutch border municipalities since their implementation in December 2014.

The mayors of the affected municipalities complain about the burden these measures place on local police resources, as well as the resulting traffic congestion and detours. Business owners in the region also express their dissatisfaction.

Furthermore, there are doubts about the effectiveness of these measures. Between December 2024 and March 2026, 600 foreigners were refused entry to the Netherlands due to border controls, and 270 people were detained.

Therefore, Van den Brink is changing course and returning to the "normal monitoring system" that the Netherlands has always implemented in its border regions since the European Union abolished internal border controls decades ago: Military police (gendarmerie) follow suspicious vehicles and subject them to targeted inspections some distance from the border.

However, he is relaxing the rules governing these controls to make them more frequently applicable. The minister says, "While there are currently strict limits on the number of routine checks, the new rules allow for greater flexibility."

Nevertheless, the question remains as to how much municipalities in the east of the country will benefit from the abolition of Dutch controls, as long as the more intensive German controls remain in place. These checkpoints cause long traffic jams and sometimes accidents: several fatal pedestrian collisions have occurred on the A1 and A12 motorways, where drivers were surprised by the traffic jams and crashed into them.

Last month, the mayors of Zeffener and Montferland, in cooperation with their counterpart in Emmerich am Rhein, sent an urgent letter to the German Interior Ministry. They urged that the checkpoints be extended to areas further inland, citing the negative impact on the quality of life in their municipalities.

Although a German judge recently ruled that these checkpoints violate the Schengen Agreement of the European Union—which governs the free movement of people—the German government has so far shown no intention of halting them.