Poland reinstates border controls with Germany and Lithuania to discourage asylum-seekers

SLUBICE, Poland (AP) — Poland reinstated border controls on Monday with Germany and Lithuania, following similar German restrictions imposed earlier this year aimed at discouraging asylum-seekers.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government recently survived a confidence vote in parliament, announced the restrictions last week. Pressure has been mounting after far-right groups in Poland have alleged that Germany was transporting migrants into Polish territory after they reached Western Europe.

The reinstated controls, which began overnight Sunday, will last for an initial period of 30 days, though authorities haven’t ruled out extending them, according to the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration.

“Illegal migration is simply a crime,” Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Sunday during a news conference.

The border guard discovered an alleged smuggling operation within minutes of the controls taking effect overnight, officials said. An Estonian citizen was allegedly trying to take four Afghan nationals over the Lithuanian border, according to the Polish News Agency.

“We’re doing this for you as well,” Tusk said during a joint news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, the news agency reported. “For the Germans, for the Dutch, for the French — because this is the European Union border.”

The Polish border with Lithuania, which stretches 104 kilometers (65 miles), will see checks in 13 locations. Poland’s border with Germany, 467 kilometers (290 miles) long, will have controls at 52 crossing points.

Lithuanian authorities said on Monday they were ready to deal with possible traffic jams at the Polish border.

“If traffic begins to build up, we will start managing the flow ... to minimize disruptions and keep checks as brief as possible,” Antanas Montvydas, deputy head of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service told Lithuania radio.

After taking office in May, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who made a tougher migration policy a pillar of his election campaign, ordered more police at the border and said that some asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe’s biggest economy would be turned away.

Last week, Merz said that Poland and Germany were in close contact to keep the impact of Germany’s border controls “as low as possible.”

“The protection of borders against irregular migration is an interest that Germany has, that Poland has, that our European neighbors share with us,” Stefan Kornelius, Merz’s spokesperson, said Monday. “We do not want permanent border controls.”

The European Union has a visa-free travel area, known as Schengen, that allows citizens of most member states to travel easily across borders for work and pleasure. Switzerland also belongs to Schengen, although it’s not an EU member.

According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of a serious threat, like internal security. It says border controls should be applied as a last resort in exceptional situations, and must be limited in time.

“Such measures must undoubtedly be temporary and must achieve results as quickly as possible and be terminated,” Lithuania President Gitanas Nausėda told reporters on Sunday, adding that Poland’s decision shows that it is not yet possible to “ideally control” the external borders.

___

Stefanie Dazio and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Rafal Niedzielski in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s global coverage of migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration