Germany has allocated €80.5 million for border surveillance operations since their implementation in mid-September 2024 until the end of June of this year.
According to a response from the German Ministry of the Interior to an inquiry by Clara Bunger, a parliament member from the “Left” party, the costs for deploying federal police at internal borders ranged from €24 million to €29.1 million per quarter.
During the period from April to the end of June this year, the federal government spent €8 million to cover the expenses for meals and accommodations for federal police officers.
In this timeframe, the costs for “unsociable hours” allowance amounted to nearly €3 million.
Additionally, the government spent €2.6 million on “administrative and operational resources” and allocated about €2 million for the operation of border facilities.
According to the data, “overtime compensation” represented the largest cost item, totaling approximately €37.9 million from mid-September 2024 to the end of June 2025.
Former Interior Minister Nancy Faeser imposed border surveillance in Germany last September as a temporary exception to the free movement rules in the Schengen Area.
However, this surveillance has been extended several times since then. The German government justified this decision as a necessity to curb irregular migration and to enhance protection against cross-border crime.
Her successor, Alexander Dobrindt, reinforced border controls shortly after taking office on May 8, announcing an additional extension and the rejection of asylum seekers at the border beyond September.
According to the Ministry of the Interior’s report, federal police turned away a total of 493 individuals at Germany’s borders between May 8 and August 4, 2025, despite their expressed intention to seek asylum.
Bunger, the interior policy expert from the “Left” party, criticized the federal government’s actions as “an illegal border closure policy.”
In statements to the Funke media group, Bunger argued that this complicates the ability of asylum seekers to escape, causes traffic chaos in border regions, increases burdens on regular cross-border travelers, and leads to high costs, calling for an immediate end to border controls.