06-07-2025
Poland to send troops to German border to block failed asylum seekers
Poland will deploy 5,000 soldiers to its borders to stop Germany from sending back failed asylum seekers.
Poland's general staff said the units would be stationed at the borders of Germany and Lithuania from Monday to check vehicles for refugees. Surveillance drones operated by the Polish air force may also monitor the area.
Tensions have flared between the two countries over how to deal with refugees trying to cross from Poland to Germany amid wider frustrations over migration.
Germany says refugees cannot be granted asylum if they have also made applications to other countries, but Poland says the pushbacks are unjust.
'We consider the temporary restoration of controls at the Polish-German border necessary to limit and reduce to a minimum the uncontrolled flows of migrants back and forth,' said Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister.
The German interior minister responded to Poland's announcement by suggesting the two countries could collaborate on joint border control. But this was swiftly rejected by Warsaw.
'The minister from Germany will not tell us what to do in Poland. With sympathy, with respect, but we will protect Polish borders ourselves,' the defence minister, Waldemar Kosiniak-Kamysz, told broadcaster TVN24.
Poland and Germany are among a growing number of countries in Europe who are bringing back border controls to quell a public backlash over undocumented migration, which has strained the EU's Schengen passport-free travel zone.
Mr Tusk's liberal government has been accused by nationalist and far-right opposition parties of accepting numerous illegal migrants being sent back from Germany. The government had argued that the numbers were limited.
Germany first started border controls with Poland in October 2023, but when Friedrich Merz became chancellor earlier this year, he made reducing immigration a top priority.
As well as ending the family reunification policy for refugees, Germany has started the so-called pushbacks.
The move has apparently proved effective, with the number of refugees arriving in Germany falling by 60 per cent in a year, the lowest since the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Mr Tusk, who has previously called on Berlin to do more to help its neighbours protect the EU's external border, criticised Germany's approach to migrants at its own frontier, saying it placed excessive pressure on Poland.
'Poland's patient position after Germany formally introduced unilateral border controls is wearing out,' he said.
That impatience has been reflected in border towns where protesters aligned with hard-right groups have formed 'citizen patrols' to forcibly stop refugees from being returned from Germany.
In one case, protesters from the 'Movement for the Protection of the Borders' group forced an Afghan male, 18, back across the border to Germany twice after he was ejected by German border police, with Polish border police refusing to intervene.
The young man was taken to another border crossing where no vigilantes were present and able to cross.
In Poland, protesters aligned with hard-right groups have carried out protests at the border while self-styled 'citizen patrols' have forcibly stopped refugees from being returned.
The protesters were condemned by Tusk, who told them their actions were illegal and they should go home.
'The more the Polish state regains control at the borders, the more strongly it is attacked by [right-wing opposition parties] Law and Justice, the Confederation and their militias,' said the Polish PM.
'They are trying to paralyse our border guard. We will not allow this.'
Mr Tusk's own government was thrown into turmoil after their candidate for president was narrowly defeated by the Law & Justice party-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki in May.
Mr Nawrocki has thanked one of the leaders of the border patrols for what he called a 'citizen-led control of the borders', blaming Tusk for conflict between the groups and border guards.
