Report: Poland plans to extend border controls

According to a media report, Poland is planning to maintain temporary controls at the border with Germany until October 4. According to the news agency PAP, this is the result of a draft decree from the Ministry of the Interior, which still has to be agreed upon within the government.

According to the report, checks will also be carried out at the border with its eastern neighbor Lithuania until the beginning of October. The Ministry of the Interior did not initially comment on when the final decision on an extension will be made.

Germany also controls border with Poland

Poland's center-left government introduced border controls on 7 July in response to German controls to stop irregular migration. Head of government 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. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) 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 July under pressure from right-wing vigilante groups. These groups searched for illegal migrants on their own authority and attempted to control the state border guards. They claimed that Germany was deporting refugees who had not previously been in Poland.