The Netherlands will impose land border controls from December 9, a spokesman for the Kingdom's Ministry of Migration said today, quoted by Reuters, thus confirming on - early announcement of the Dutch news agency ANP.
The control at the borders, all of which with countries that are members of the Schengen area of free movement, will last six months – part of wider measures to tackle migration proposed by the far-right coalition led by Geert Wilders' nationalist Freedom Party. This follows a similar decision taken by neighboring Germany.
German police reported that illegal crossings at Germany's borders fell by 13% in the first three weeks since permanent border checks were introduced, DPA reported, citing official preliminary data published at the end of last month.< /p>
The reduction was calculated against the number of illegal crossings in the three weeks preceding the introduction of the checks. Federal police have been checking Germany's borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark since September 16.