Poland will temporarily re-establish border controls with neighboring Germany and Lithuania, the country’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
The decision comes after Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, made a tougher migration policy a pillar of his election campaign in February. After he took office in May, Germany deployed more police officers to the border and said some asylum seekers trying to enter Europe’s biggest economy would be turned away. Even before that, Merz’s predecessor in February extended by six months the border controls he introduced at all his borders last fall in an attempt to reduce the number of migrants coming into the country.
The European Union has a visa-free travel area known as Schengen that allows citizens of most member states to easily travel across borders for business and pleasure. Switzerland also belongs to Schengen, although it is not a member of the EU. According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of serious threats, such as internal security. It states that border controls should be applied as a last resort in exceptional situations and must be time-limited.
Tusk has repeatedly condemned Germany’s temporary border measures as “unacceptable” in the past. Several of Germany’s neighbors have recently expressed dissatisfaction with Berlin’s implementation of border controls, saying they slow down cross-border traffic for commuters and threaten visa-free travel in the Schengen area.
Tusk said on Tuesday that the temporary measures would come into effect on Monday, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
Shortly before Tusk announced the move, Merz told reporters at a press conference in Berlin that his government was in very close contact with the Polish government to minimize the impact of Germany’s border controls with Poland, AFP reported.
