Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Die Welt- Migrants and European Borders

It is only a short appearance. A few minutes is what the Minister of the Interior in the early Sunday evening. Only recently has loaded into the Interior Ministry's press office. Journalists' questions can be Thomas de Maizière not.

For this he proclaimed perhaps a decision of historic proportions. "Germany leads controls at its internal borders temporarily again," he says. This is a real turning point. De facto, making it the Schengen Agreement overridden, even if de Maizière indicating that those Treaty rules precisely such measures.

In the grounds for the unexpected decision resonates in what unusual location Germany and Europe are located. "The aim of the measure is to limit the influx and to arrive at an orderly fashion," the CDU politician said. This is also for security reasons "urgently required". Thomas de Maizière is no one who stirs panic, which - unlike the former Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble - constantly formulated warnings.

Dublin agreement no longer works for a long time

Perhaps this decision is so dramatic. Germany is responding to a powerlessness within the European Union. The Dublin Agreement is no longer working for a long time. Refugees not just remain in a State where they have entered within the EU first. You move on, they flee further, to Germany for example, or to Sweden. De Maizière formulated during his press conference the expectation that those states enter the asylum seekers, this - as agreed - really register and receive an asylum procedure.

But he also directed an appeal, a clear reference to the many refugees. It can not be that the refugees simply to choose a government of their choice within the EU."That will not work when it comes to a European distribution system," said the Home Secretary.

De Maizière praised the helpfulness in Germany, but they should not be "overused". In this respect, the decision is for border controls, a "signal to Europe". On good German: we require more solidarity. That he does not say so, but that's what he thinks. He wants Poland, Great Britain, and many other countries receive considerably more refugees than previously.

For the Germans, who benefit from the abolition of border controls for many years, for many young people who have never experienced such obstacles within the EU, the decision of Sunday is also a milestone. It could lead to "constraints in tourist traffic", de Maizière announced. And in fact, the train traffic between Germany and Austria is in abeyance. When it has been before? All this is necessary in order to get more time and to reach a "certain degree of order on our borders." The situation at the borders is so out of control, can the Minister of the Interior to recognize with his words.

Gabriel blesses "measures" from

The "measures", of which de Maizière talks technocratic, had been "amicably discussed and resolved" within the grand coalition. It is 17:43 clock, as de Maizière are pointing this out. For the Social Democrats, where border control will cause considerable headaches, this means that the matter is approved by Vice Chancellor and SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel. The country's interior minister are already informed, with Austria had to the matter "consulted", and "the opposition, we have informed," says de Maizière. At the latest with this appearance is the brittle Executive politician de Maizière at the center of the political arena in Berlin. As little as he was perceived in the past few weeks, he has now taken the issue of action. Now de Maizière is the head of the refugee crisis

Many questions are on this Sunday evening while still unsettled. An exact number of how many federal police the borders now control, does not mention the Federal Interior Ministry. From a "four-digit number" of officers of the Federal Police is talk in circles of the Ministry. The Bundeswehr is not involved.

But what happens to the refugees who arrive now on the border with Germany?They show their papers, and then? Also it is the Ministry for the time being no reply. The number of trains with refugees will be reduced, it is hoped here. No information there is also the question of what limits are strictly controlled, in addition to the Austria. Details are not known, says an employee of the Interior Ministry, and then blurts out in this dramatic Sunday evening a phrase that does not fit to the current situation. He says: "We wait and see."