West Pomeranian Voivode: border controls will be selective and will not hinder commuting to work
Selective checks will not make it difficult to commute to work or limit tourist traffic, assures Adam Rudawski, the governor of West Pomerania. Temporary checks on the border with Germany and Lithuania will come into effect on July 7, which are intended to reduce uncontrolled flows of migrants.
"On July 7, checks will return, but they will be selective, conducted in such a way as not to hinder the residents of Poland and Germany from commuting to work and the free movement of tourists," the West Pomeranian Voivode told journalists on Thursday. He emphasized that "checks will be selectively focused on people who will attempt to cross the border illegally, either from the Polish or German side."
"It will be a selective, professional check in the context that the guards will designate vehicles for checks, their experience tells us which ones are at the greatest risk of such exceedances. It will be a check similar to those that take place on the German side when we drive through our border crossings to Germany," Rudawski noted.
The commander-in-chief of the Border Guard, Maj. Gen. Robert Bagan, announced on Thursday that 52 border control points have been selected on the border with Germany, and permanent controls will be carried out in 16 places. Similar controls are to be carried out on the border with Lithuania.
Checks at fixed points will be carried out using special containers and so-called Schengen buses. "In other places, ad hoc checks will be carried out by Border Guard officers with the support of Territorial Defense Forces soldiers, as well as with the support of Military Police soldiers," he noted.
The West Pomeranian Voivode referred to people who guard border crossings with Germany as part of the so-called "citizen patrol". According to him, there is no problem when it comes to spontaneous gatherings that are the result of anxiety.
"The most important thing is that these people do not attempt to check vehicles and do not interfere with the work of the Border Guard. This is the most important thing. These groups can present their demands, but they should not participate in any border control activities. This is illegal and cannot be performed at the border," Rudawski emphasized.
In June 2025, on the Polish-German border in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, German services refused entry to 163 foreigners due to the restored border control.
Currently, border controls are carried out by several Schengen countries, including Germany, which introduced controls on the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland in October 2023, and has maintained them on the border with Austria since 2015. The introduction of controls was justified by the need to stop illegal migration.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday the reintroduction of temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania from Monday, July 7. Border controls with Germany and Lithuania are to be reintroduced for 30 days - from July 7 to August 5. The Prime Minister explained that the temporary reintroduction of controls is necessary to reduce uncontrolled migrant flows to a minimum; at the same time, he criticized the political exploitation of the situation at the border.
Opposition politicians demanded increased government action. On some sections of the Polish-German border, people associated with the so-called Border Defense Movement, established by Robert Bąkiewicz, appeared. Members of this movement declare that they "guard the border from people trying to cross it illegally".
(PAP)
Kurier Szczecinski
