Migration: Poland’s Interior Minister: Traffic to border flows smoothly

Several hours after the beginning of the temporary controls at Poland’s border with Germany and Lithuania, Poland Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has drawn a positive balance. “Everything is going without incidents, the traffic has been flowing smoothly so far,” he told the broadcaster TVN24 after a conversation with the boss of the border protection.

Since midnight, travelers on the 52 transitions along the German-Polish border have been checked randomly. There are also controls at the 13 transitions to Lithuania. There, the Polish border guards took an Estonian citizen shortly after midnight. According to the information, he had four people from Afghanistan in the car who wanted to enter irregularly.

The Afghans are to be rejected according to Lithuania, the driver is still interrogated. The smuggler thought that he would make it across the border before the controls were introduced, said Interior Minister Siemoniak. “And that is exactly the proof that these controls are necessary.”

Returns from Germany are stimulating them in Poland

The center-left government in Warsaw ordered the controls in response to German border controls. Germany has been checking randomly on the border with Poland since October 2023 to stop irregular migration. 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. The rejections from Germany are a stimulus topic in Poland.