Poland starts temporary controls at the border with Germany

In Poland, temporary controls on the common border with Germany will start on Monday. According to the border protection, a total of 52 transitions should be checked by random. The border guards will have an eye on buses, minibuses and cars with many inmates, but also vehicles with tinted windows.

The controls should start at midnight and initially last until August 5th. Travelers who want to cross the border must have a identity card or a passport. Poland also wants to check at his border with Lithuania in the coming weeks.

The center-left government in Warsaw ordered the controls in response to German border controls. According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, “the uncontrolled current of migrants is to be limited and back. The rejections from Germany in particular are a stimulus topic in Poland.

Tusk had repeatedly made it clear that his country would rather do without the controls at his own border post, but would react to the one -sided German approach. Due to the German controls, there were repeated disorders and delays in cross -border traffic.

Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) had more intensive border controls shortly after the new Federal Government started in May. At the same time, he ordered that asylum seekers can also be rejected at the border in the future. His predecessor Nancy Faeser (SPD) introduced stationary controls on the border with Poland in October 2023.

Representatives of business associations have been concerned about negative effects in view of the Polish border controls applicable from Monday. “We get worrying feedback from the economy and in particular from the IHKs on site,” said the general manager of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Helena Melnikov, the “Handelsblatt”. “If commuters no longer come to their work reliably and on time on the German-Polish border, the risk of orienting themselves permanently will be oriented differently-with consequences for the shortage of skilled workers in regions such as Brandenburg,” she said.

Melnikov proposed “Pragmatic agreements between neighboring countries” as a solution – for example, passion certificates for commuters or separate traces of road for delivery traffic are possible. Regional retail, gastronomy, the care and health sector, but also large industrial companies are affected. “The companies need reliability and freedom of movement, not new barriers,” said Melnikov.

The President of the Grand and Foreign Trade Association (BGA), Dirk Jandura, also commented on the “Handelsblatt”. “Foreclosure does not solve any problems, but creates new ones: for supply chains, employees and economic cohesion in Europe,” he said. “Europe must not become a patchwork of sealed limits again.” If stricter border controls are necessary to avert dangers, of course, this always has priority. “Here, however, we see the step back into a Europe that we believed to be overcome,” said Jandura. “Border controls should not be a political means of pressure.”

The police union (GdP) also called for close coordination between Poland and Germany as well as clear agreements, which, according to GDP federal police chief Andreas Roßkopf, should be “implemented and functional”. “We need clear liabilities when we may and must reject humans and this must also be agreed with the neighboring countries that it is a practical procedure,” said Roßkopf, the “Rheinische Post” (Monday edition).

Roßkopf emphasized that the border checks announced by Poland are concerned with concern. According to the clear announcement by Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk, it could happen “that we get into a kind of ping pong game. This means that asylum and protection-seeking people who want to reject Poland are not accepted there or are also rejected to us after a short time”. This should not happen, Roßkopf emphasized. “We speak of people here who would then become a ‘play ball’ of politics.” The police unionist warned that the federal police would then also be a situation that would bring a “considerable additional effort”.