A court in Dresden ruled on Thursday, November 12, that border controls ordered by Germany’s Interior Ministry lacked a lawful basis during the period under review. It also found that the specific checks carried out against the two claimants were illegal.

The decision was reported by inPoland.net.pl on Friday, November 13. The case examined whether repeated extensions of controls on Germany’s borders with Poland and the Czech Republic complied with the Schengen Borders Code.

One claimant was a Polish citizen living in Görlitz who frequently crosses into Zgorzelec to visit relatives. German police stopped him in September 2024, checked his identity and searched his van. The other complaint came from a German resident of Brandenburg who travels to the Czech Republic several times a year.

The claimants argued that controls prolonged in successive six-month periods could no longer be justified by a sudden rise in migration flows. Although the court accepted their complaints, its judgment can be appealed and does not automatically establish a right to compensation.