By IRNA
Berlin : Contrary to press reports there has been “no rise” in the crime rate in Germany after the recent removal of border controls with Germany’s eastern European Union neighbors — Poland and the Czech Republic, Interior Ministry spokesperson Stefan Paris said.
“Our numbers show there is no rise in crime,” the security official said.
Paris also stressed that there were no “stepped up controls” in the German border region with Poland and the Czech Republic.
He pointed out there had been “better controls” near the borders.
According to media reports, there has been a steady rise in criminal offenses along Germany’s eastern borders after the lifting of the borders.
The German Interior Ministry announced last month that there had been no “significant rise” in the number of illegal entries.
It cited statistics released by the Federal Police which showed there had been 425 cases of illegal entries for the period between December 21 and January 9.
The daily Bild newspaper had reported in mid-January that 614 people had entered Germany illegally.
Bild added that the figure for the first half of 2007, before Poland and the Czech Republic joined the so-called ‘Schengen’ zone, stood at 484.
Addressing last month’s European police conference in Berlin, European Union Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini urged stepped up cooperation among security officials of EU member states following the removal of border checkpoints.
Frattini called for the formation of joint investigative teams and boosting cross-border information exchanges as well as a new electronic entry system to secure EU’s exterior borders.
The two-day police congress came in the wake of repeated news reports about a major increase in the number of illegal entries after the recent official lifting of German borders with Poland and the Czech Republic.