Migration: border controls: BUND wants to avoid traffic jams

The Federal Ministry of the Interior wants to keep traffic disabilities as a result of the border controls to Poland. Shortly before the controls started on the Polish side, the ministry announced that solutions are checked in order to avoid traffic jams on Autobahn 12 in Brandenburg. Due to German controls, traffic disruptions have already occurred there.

“The federal police guarantee the ease of cross-border travel and goods traffic to the greatest possible extent,” said a ministry spokesman for the German Press Agency. According to this, structural changes on the A 12 between Frankfurt (Oder) and Swiecko are under discussion.

Poland starts controls – negative consequences expected

Poland wants to temporarily introduce controls on the border with Germany on Monday. On the other hand, Germany has been checking randomly on the border with Poland since October 2023 to stop irregular migration. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) intensified the controls in May.

Poland reacts to this step with his decision. Not only the government in Warsaw expects the controls to have negative effects on traffic in the region. Brandenburg’s interior minister René Wilke (non-party, for SPD) and the chambers of industry and commerce in Brandenburg and Saxony warn of great traffic jams.

There are often traffic jams on the Polish side: the border controls on the A 12 lead to traffic disabilities between Frankfurt (Oder) and Swiecko. That is why Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) asked the BUND together with the Marshal of the Polish Wojewodeschaft Lubuskie, Marcin Jablonski. The traffic can be relaxed by creating a third lane for controls in the border area on the A12, said Woidke of the “Märkische Oderzeitung” (Saturday).

Federal Police checks relief

The Federal Ministry of the Interior promises a possible solution. The Federal Police examine structural adjustments to the A 12, “which could serve to relieve the traffic situation on the German-Polish border,” said the spokesman. The federal police choose the control location in such a way that the interests of operational tactics and traffic are taken into account.

Brandenburg’s head of government Woidke campaigned for joint controls from Germany and Poland. “The federal government is responsible for securing the German external borders. In the coordination with the Polish side, I still see room for improvement,” he told the “Märkische Oderzeitung”. “As a former Poland coordinator, I also ask myself why the border controls of German and Polish police forces are not carried out together. A signal from the federal government is overdue here.”