Russia's enemy neighbor tightens border controls

Poland to tighten border controls amid rising tensions over illegal border crossings. Temporary rules for Germany and Lithuania come as far-right activists initiate patrols of Polish borders.

Poland will introduce temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania from Monday amid growing tensions over illegal migration, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

The decision, taken after a government meeting with Polish border guards on Tuesday, was a response to growing domestic political pressure and far-right protests at Poland's border crossings with Germany over the weekend, The Guardian notes.

In a speech at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, Tusk blamed Germany for the move, accusing Berlin of changing policies that result in “effectively denying entry to migrants who travel to Germany to apply for asylum or other forms of status.”

“The way operations are carried out on the Polish-German border has clearly changed over the past month,” he said.

Earlier this year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made tougher immigration policies a central part of his election campaign, The Guardian recalls. Since he took office in May, Germany has deployed more police at the border and said some people trying to enter the country would be turned away.

Even before that, Merz's predecessor in February extended by six months the temporary border checks that Germany introduced at its borders last autumn in an attempt to reduce the number of people arriving in the country, The Guardian notes.

Pole Tusk argued that Berlin's recent policy change had put undue pressure on Poland to accept people who had been refused entry at the German border. "With no border checks on the Polish side, it is difficult to determine whether those who have been refused entry should be returned or redirected to Poland," the Polish prime minister complained.

Donald Tusk added that he had spoken to Merz “several times,” warning him that “Poland’s patient position is wearing thin.”

"We were defenders of the Schengen zone and remain supporters of a Europe with open borders and unrestricted movement. However, such a system requires an equal, symmetrical commitment from all neighboring countries," the Pole insists. "Therefore, the temporary restoration of border controls on the Polish-German border is necessary to minimize the uncontrolled flow of migrants crossing the border."

Under EU law, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of serious threat, such as internal security. The EU law says that border controls should be used as a last resort in exceptional situations and should be limited in time, The Guardian points out.

In a sharp warning to Merz, Tusk said Tuesday that if the German government expands unilateral border controls in September, Poland will retaliate in kind. “The time when Poland did not respond appropriately to such actions is definitely over,” he added.

The debate over migration in Poland has become increasingly heated in recent weeks, with far-right activists beginning to organize patrols along the border with Germany.

The decision to introduce temporary border controls with Lithuania was made in connection with a change in German policy.

Tusk said that with the heavily militarized Polish-Belarusian border closed to illegal migration, other neighboring countries are now being used to explore alternative routes to the Schengen zone via the Baltic states. As a result, he said, the flow of illegal migration “continues to flow through Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania – and Poland, after all, has an open border with Lithuania.”

Chancellor Merz was asked about the growing criticism from Poland during a joint press conference with the Luxembourg prime minister. Speaking minutes before Tusk announced Poland's decision, Merz said he was aware of Warsaw's concerns and had spoken to the Polish prime minister several times in recent days. But the German leader insisted that "no asylum seekers who had already arrived in Germany were returned from Germany to Poland."

Merz said the two countries “have a common problem that we want to solve together.” He added: “We naturally want to preserve the Schengen area, but freedom of movement in the Schengen area will only work in the long term if it is not abused by those who encourage illegal migration, in particular the smuggling of migrants.”