Theoretically, seamless internal borders and unhindered travel are what the European Union's Schengen Area is all about. That is, unless you're Germany's center-left federal coalition government, shaken by two historic state election results for the far right and a terrorist stabbing by a suspected failed asylum seeker.

"Until we achieve stronger border protection with the joint European asylum system, we must further protect our national borders," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) said Monday in the German capital.

According to Faeser, stricter border rules would allow for a "massive step-up in rejections" of asylum seekers and help deal with Islamist terrorism and serious cross-border crime.

The announcement comes after weeks of intense debate sparked by a knife attack that killed three people in Solingen, a town just north of Düsseldorf in western Germany. The suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian man due for deportation and with links to the so-called "Islamic State" group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Less than a week after the attack, the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made big gains in state elections in eastern Germany, finishing first in Turingian and second in Saxony. The results have put pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz's embattled coalition government as more Germans want the country to get tougher on immigration and border controls.

As of next Monday, Germany will introduce more systematic........

© Deutsche Welle