Migration: Poland begins border controls – and now?

Anyone traveling from Poland to Germany has had to prepare for German border controls since October 2023. The Federal Government wants to contain irregular migration. The result is often a long traffic jam on the Polish side.

Now Poland is reacting. From this Monday onwards, travelers, commuters and trucks are also to be checked in the opposite direction until 5 August, i.e. on the Polish side. It is a far -reaching decision with not quite foreseeable consequences.

What do border controls mean for travelers from Germany?

People have to prepare for waiting times in front of the Polish border. The controls are said to affect buses, minibuses and cars with many occupants, as Konrad Szwed said from the Polish border protection of the news agency Pap. “The focus will also be on vehicles with tinted windows.” There will be no trimmings or barriers. However, either the lanes would be narrowed before the checkpoints or signs to slow down the traffic.

Nothing changes in the single -time rules themselves. Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004 and has also been part of the Schengen area since 2007, which actually promises unlimited freedom of travel. So the ID card is enough for traveling, you don’t need a pass.

What do they mean for commuters and small border traffic?

Especially for commuters, the German controls have been a burden for a long time – and now there are also those on the Polish side, complains Saxony’s Minister of Economics Dirk Panter (SPD). “Long waiting times, planning uncertainty and disturbed goods traffic damage everyone involved in the end.” The spokesman for Poland border protection said that the officials would try to leave out professional commuters from the areas close to the border without major delays.

According to Saxony alone, 13,000 people commute from Poland every day. According to the chambers of industry and commerce, there are more than 14,000 in Brandenburg. In the border area, many people from Germany also drive to refueling or shopping to Poland, where cheap prices attract. Brandenburg’s interior minister René Wilke fears “possible traffic collapse” with both side controls. Hundreds of thousands are affected.

How did it come about?

Germany began in 2023 controls to deny migrants without the necessary papers. With the start of the new federal government in early May, the rules were tightened: Unlike before – also people who express an asylum request.

The provisional balance of the federal police: Since May 8, 7,960 unauthorized entry have been registered on all German land borders and 6,193 people were rejected or pushed back (as of July 1). Among them were 285 people who had expressed an asylum request. According to the Interior Ministry, there were around 1,300 rejections on the German-Polish border alone, and an asylum application was expressed in every tenth case.

Why is Poland react now?

This has mainly domestic reasons. The rejections from Germany are a stimulus topic for many Poles. The right -wing conservative opposition party PIS takes up this to combine anti -German resentment with the fuses of fear of migrants. Representatives of the PIS accuse the pro -European government of Donald Tusk that it willingly accept a large number of migrants from Germany and have no control over the situation at the border. The PIS, whose candidate Karol Nawrocki recently won the presidential election, hopes to return to power. She had increased the pressure on Tusk until it decided to introduce border controls.

Who is behind the Polish citizens on the border?

For some time now, Polish right -wing extremist patrols have been organizing, which stable vehicles at the border crossings, ask passers -by for documents and search for migrants. Behind the “Movement to Defense of the Borders” is the right -wing radical right -wing Robert Bakiewicz, who organizes right -wing marches every year on the Polish Independence Day in Warsaw. The government in Warsaw are a thorn in the side. Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has announced that cases of office preservation and insulting civil servants are consistently punished.

Are asylum seekers now sent back and forth?

This fears the police union. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), on the other hand, is convinced that there will be no such “Pingpong game”. He emphasizes the good cooperation between the federal police and the Polish border guards.

Discrepances are actually rare – from practice – is actually rare. Shortly after the beginning of the tightened border controls in May, Poland refused to enter two Afghan men who had entered Brandenburg in unauthorized manners and said they wanted to apply for asylum. They were then brought to the initial reception facility in Eisenhüttenstadt.

What does the economy say?

The chambers of industry and commerce in Brandenburg speak of an escalation and raise the alarm. Poland is Brandenburg’s most important foreign trade partner: In 2024 exports for 4.1 billion euros went from the state to the eastern neighbors and were in the opposite direction for 4.5 billion euros.

But Brandenburg, Saxony or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are more often a transit station for goods traffic with Eastern Europe. According to the BGL logistics association, the toll statistics 2024 record a good 9.7 million entrances and exits trucks at the German-Polish border crossings. The unification of the corporate associations in Berlin and Brandenburg warns with traffic jams. History in Europe and delays in the crossing of the border affected the entire EU economic area, complement the chambers of industry and commerce.

Polish transporters are also concerned. The companies would largely serve production lines in factories in Western Europe with components manufactured in Poland, said Jan Buczek, chairman of the Polish association of the international transport companies, the newspaper “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”. The goods had to be delivered on time, in the event of delays, punishments threatened the manufacturer and the supplier. He fears that the Polish side will carry out 100 % controls, which can lead to a blockade of several hours or even several days on the way back.

Is the limitless freedom of travel in Europe at the end?

No, but it is now being controlled in many places in the Schengen area – although this should actually be a temporary exception. Former Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) introduced the controls at the eastern borders in October 2023 and then from September 2024 at all German land borders.

Austria controls at the borders to Hungary and Slovenia. France, the Netherlands and Slovenia also make use of the possibility. This is usually justified with too much irregular migration. In some cases, however, security issues also play a role, such as in France, which also leads terrorist threats to justification.

How long will that last?

The Polish controls are initially limited until August 5th. But when the situation is normalized is not foreseeable. Among other things, it depends on how the rules of the common European asylum system (GEAS) prove themselves in practice. They should apply from mid -June 2026. The reform stipulates that protection seekers will be registered at the EU external borders in the future, including identity determination and biometric data. For people from countries with a low recognition rate, there are said to be accelerated asylum procedures at the external borders.