Germany's federal government had introduced temporary checks at all German borders for the Euro 2024 championship as part of a series of security measures introduced for the international tournament.

With Spain's victory over England last night (July 14), the event has officially ended now, and the prevention measures in place to mitigate and intersect hooligans and extremists are due to expire within days.

However, Christian Dürr, the parliamentary group leader of the Free Democrats, one of the two junior partners in the government coalition, suggested that the setup should, at least in part, continue.

Dürr said the border checks had been "very effective in apprehending those who want to enter the country illegally."

"I think it is worth considering retaining the border checks that we introduced for the European Championships," he told reporters.

Also read: Germany attributes fall in irregular migration to stricter border controls

Dürr proposal deemed unfeasible

Germany's federal police, in particular its union (GdP), meanwhile has reacted to the call for more checks, saying that it would be unfeasible to pursue such a policy along all of Germany's borders at present due to shortages in equipment and personnel.

GdP thanked the hundreds of policemen and women, who "contributed to a peaceful football event despite an extreme workload," adding that there was a great deal of overtime put in by police officials, which will need to be paid.

The interior ministry meanwhile published figures on the temporary border checks that were in place from June 7 to 27 as part of the European Championships, highlighting that some 600 outstanding arrest warrants were executed and around 150 smugglers were provisionally detained.

It added that "(e)ntry prevention measures" were taken in around 3,200 cases.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser added that during the Euro 2024 championships, "significantly fewer security incidents and offenses" had taken place "than our security authorities had expected beforehand."

Dürr: Devolution of border checks to state governments

Dürr meanwhile highlighted that the policy of added border checks did not have to be in the hands of federal authorities and could be devolved to state governments.

He said that the interior ministers of Germany's 16 states had the power to issue their own instructions for continuing such checks — in particular addressing those states that are located along Germany's borders.

If such measures were to be taken, the authorities in charge of manning the border check would not be federal police officials but state-level police. However, it is highly unlikely that Germany's state governments would take such measures without good reason.

Also read: Reform of the Schengen Code: Free movement or authorized pushbacks?

Schengen area border checks: exception, not the rule

There are no regular border checks on Germany's border, as it is a signatory to the EU's Schengen Area, where there is freedom of movement between countries.

This means that outside of exceptional periods — such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Euro 2024 championships, when tens of thousands of people traveled to Germany to watch football matches — there only are limited spot checks at some of Germany's land borders.

Germany is due to drop checks at its borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on July 19.

However, there will be checks in place on the border with France before and during the upcoming Olympic Games.

Overview of Schengen checks in place

Currently, Germany also has limited checks that only take place along the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland regardless of the European Championship; in addition, there have also been tighter checks in place along the German-Austrian border for years, as this is part of a popular route for irregular migrants.

Other Schengen nations, however, have their own additional checks in place — these include Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. These are due to run at least until later in the year, with the first checks pegged to expire in late October.

The introduction of any border checks has to be presented to EU authorities in Brussels before they can be implemented, and must be reviewed once every six months to establish whether they remain necessary.

Also read: Europe finds appeal in border fences once again

With dpa, AP