Poland extends border controls until spring

Poland is once again extending the temporary checks at the border with Germany. The checks previously planned until October 4 will remain in place until April 4 of next year, as announced by the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw on Platform X. Checks at the border with Poland's eastern neighbor Lithuania will also be extended.

"We are extending the checks to control the migration route that leads from the Baltic states via Poland to Western Europe," Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski was quoted as saying in his authority's post. "We catch people who illegally try to smuggle migrants to the West." The most important task of the Polish border guard remains to keep the border with Belarus closed and protect it from migratory pressure.

Poland and the EU accuse Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an organized manner in order to exert pressure on the West. Many of these migrants want to travel on to Germany from Poland.

Poland reacts to German controls

The government in Warsaw introduced border controls at the beginning of July in response to German controls. Prime Minister Donald Tusk had made a possible end to this measure dependent on decisions by the German government.

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 Dobrindt had 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.

The government in Warsaw followed suit in the summer under pressure from right-wing vigilante groups. They searched for illegal migrants on their own authority and attempted to control the state border guards. They insinuated that Germany was deporting refugees who had not previously been in Poland. In the meantime, these vigilante activities have declined sharply.