Poland uses incident at border to justify tighter controls with Germany, as Europe fractures over migration
'We consider the temporary reintroduction of controls necessary to reduce the uncontrolled flows of migrants across the Polish-German border to a minimum,' Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Domestic political pressures are fuelling tensions over the issue. Tusk suffered a setback in Poland's presidential election in June when his preferred candidate was defeated.
New president Karol Nawrocki is an admirer of US President Donald Trump and argues for tougher policies on migration.
Last month, when Germany announced border checks to turn away asylum seekers, Nawrocki responded by calling for stricter measures on the Polish side.
Ramping up the pressure, Nawrocki on Friday accused Tusk of allowing Germany to send undocumented migrants into Poland – turning the dispute into a question of national pride.
Travellers have been free to cross internal borders for decades in the Schengen zone of 29 countries in Europe that agreed on free movement, a boon for visitors who can move around much of the continent without a visa.
The dispute between Germany and Poland does not change the visa-free travel for tourists, but it highlights the pressure on the Schengen pact when countries are at odds over asylum seekers.
Merz said on Tuesday that Germany wants to preserve the Schengen system, but this could work only if it was not abused by criminals who smuggle migrants.
'We know that the Polish government also wants to impose border controls with Lithuania in order to limit illegal border crossings from Lithuania to Poland,' Merz told a news conference.
'So, we have a common problem here that we want to solve together.'
Knut Abraham, the German government's commissioner for Poland, was critical of the shift to border restrictions.
'The solution cannot lie in pushing migrants back and forth between Poland and Germany or in cementing border controls on both sides,' Die Welt newspaper quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Britain and France are negotiating a means to discourage thousands of asylum seekers who travel to northern France in the hope of crossing the English Channel.
French President Emmanuel Macron travels to London on Tuesday for a three-day state visit that will include a welcome from King Charles and talks with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Macron and Starmer have been discussing an agreement dubbed 'one in, one out' because it would allow Britain to send some asylum seekers back to France.
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The president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, were greeted on Tuesday on a red carpet at London's RAF Northolt air base by the Prince and Princess of Wales. They were met in Windsor, west of London, by King Charles and Queen Camilla. A military band played the French and British national anthems as all four set out for the royal residence of Windsor Castle in horse-drawn carriages, through streets bedecked in Union Jacks and French tricolour flags. Later, the King and Queen will host a state banquet for their guests. The British royals made a state visit to France in September 2023. The monarch will make a broad appeal to international co-operation at the banquet, saying Britain and France "face a multitude of complex threats" that "know no borders" - and that "no fortress can protect us against them". Macron will address both houses of Britain's parliament before sitting down for talks with Starmer on migration, defence and investment. At a UK-France summit on Thursday, senior government officials from the two countries will discuss small-boat crossings, a thorny issue for successive governments on both sides of the English Channel. Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than Mediterranean European countries, but thousands of migrants each year use northern France as a launching point to reach the UK, either by stowing away in trucks or - after a clampdown on that route - in small boats across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Starmer, whose centre-left government was elected a year ago, has pledged to " smash the gangs " behind organised people-smuggling. Starmer and Macron have worked closely together to rally support for Ukraine, with Britain and France leading efforts to form an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine to reinforce a future ceasefire with European troops and equipment and US security guarantees. US President Donald Trump has shown little enthusiasm for the idea, however, and a ceasefire remains elusive.
