#IRON CURTAIN

Left: East German border guard at the sector border during the construction of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz; at the back is a sign, reading: ‘You are entering the Democratic Berlin’. Right: German police is seen at the German-French border on September 16, 2024 in Kehl, Germany. Photos: Alex Waidmann/ullstein bild via Getty Images; Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images

Guest Column | Mr Scholz, tear down this wall

Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg can check out for themselves a new menace to Europe’s future by just hopping on a tram. Take the D-line from the city centre in France and MEPs can watch German police climb aboard to check passports a couple of stops before the terminus – just one manifestation of new border controls imposed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Politics