Poland expects delays due to border controls

Poland's government expects the controls at the border with Germany, which begin on Monday, to have a negative impact on traffic in the region. "We are aware that there will be some delays at the border," government spokesman Adam Szlapka told the portal Onet.pl. However, the work of border guards will be organized in such a way as to minimize the inconvenience.

Poland plans to temporarily introduce its own controls at the German-Polish border from July 7 in response to German border controls. Germany has already been carrying out random checks at the border with Poland since October 2023 in order to stop irregular migration. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) ordered more intensive border controls shortly after the new federal government took office in May. At the same time, he ordered that asylum seekers could also be turned back at the border in future.

These rejections from Germany have become a controversial issue in Poland. Representatives of the right-wing conservative opposition party PiS accuse Donald Tusk's pro-European government of accepting large numbers of migrants from Germany. Right-wing extremists from the "Movement for the Defence of Borders" have organized vigilante groups to patrol the border. The PiS and the future president it supports, Karol Nawrocki, praise these actions.

Government spokesman Szlapka contradicted the statement by PiS politicians that "hordes of migrants" are crossing the border. The situation is under control.

Since 8 May, the federal police have carried out around 1,300 refoulements at the German-Polish land border, according to the Ministry of the Interior. In every tenth case, an application for asylum was made.