Latest news with #borderchecks
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poland refuses entry to 24 people from Germany in new border checks
Polish border guards have refused entry to 24 people in the first week of checks at the border with Germany, according to Polish news agency PAP. Konrad Szwed, a spokesman for the Polish Border Guard, said on Monday that 67,000 people and more than 28,500 vehicles were checked at the German-Polish border between July 7-13. The Polish centre-left government ordered random checks at the borders with Germany and Lithuania a week ago as a way to crack down on irregular migration. The move was also seen as a response to similar German measures that have been in place since October 2023. On the Lithuanian side, some 40,000 people and 19,500 vehicles were checked in the first week, the spokesman said. There, 15 people were denied entry and 19 migrants were turned back to Lithuania in accordance with a repatriation agreement. Eight suspected people smugglers were detained. Out of 65 border crossings to Germany and Lithuania in total, 16 now have permanent border checks, while other border posts are subject to partial controls. The new Polish border checks have not yet had any major impact in Lithuania, according to the authorities there. "There have been no problems for travellers due to the Polish checks," said a spokesman for the Lithuanian border guard. German authorities reported long tailbacks on the German side of the border on Thursday, and fear heavy traffic later this month as summer holidays start.
Al Jazeera
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Polish-German border checks play 'into the hands of the far right'
Polish-German border checks play 'into the hands of the far right' Quotable Piotr Buras, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says Poland has imposed controls on its border with Germany, which will appease the far right. Video Duration 00 minutes 48 seconds 00:48 Video Duration 01 minutes 05 seconds 01:05 Video Duration 00 minutes 59 seconds 00:59 Video Duration 01 minutes 06 seconds 01:06 Video Duration 01 minutes 29 seconds 01:29 Video Duration 01 minutes 00 seconds 01:00 Video Duration 01 minutes 37 seconds 01:37
France 24
08-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Israeli proposal for forced relocation of Gazans 'may be a way to pacify right-ring base'
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Al Jazeera
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Poland imposes controls on Germany, Lithuania borders to check migration
Poland has reintroduced temporary checks on its borders with Germany and Lithuania, citing a growing influx of undocumented migrants and increasing public concern over security. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the move on Monday, arguing that Warsaw needed to 'redirect' migration routes that bypass barriers along the Belarusian border and instead pass through neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania. 'To redirect this stream of people, which is deflected by our barrier, but which wants to cross Poland again through the border with Latvia and Lithuania, and further into Europe,' Tusk said. The decision came amid heightened tensions across Europe over irregular migration, with other Schengen members like Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands having already taken similar steps over the past 18 months, putting strain on the European Union's passport-free travel zone. Germany has maintained controls on its border with Poland since 2023, but recently adopted a tougher approach, rejecting undocumented arrivals and sending them back to Poland under EU and bilateral agreements. Polish authorities say this has placed an unfair burden on their country. Knut Abraham, Germany's envoy for Polish relations, warned the new checks could cause traffic congestion and disrupt trade, without curbing migration effectively. Similar concerns were raised by Rafal Gronicz, mayor of the border town of Zgorzelec, who dismissed fears of a migrant crisis as exaggerated. 'As long as I live, I have never known anyone who wanted to escape from Germany to Poland,' he told local radio. 'There are no pressing waves of migrants walking around Zgorzelec.' Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said checks on the German border will be lifted when Berlin ends its tougher controls. 'If Germany lifts its controls, we are not going to delay either,' Siemoniak said. 'We want this movement to be absolutely free, that the problems of illegal migrant and migration be resolved together, without either side suffering.' Tensions have escalated in recent weeks in Poland after a Venezuelan national was charged with murdering a 24-year-old woman in Torun. That killing triggered mass protests led by nationalist groups, with some 10,000 people marching on Sunday in her memory. A separate incident on Saturday saw a Polish man fatally stabbed during a brawl in the northern town of Nowe. Authorities said on Monday that 13 people had been arrested – three Poles and 10 Colombians. Angry crowds gathered outside a workers' hostel where the Colombians had been staying, state media reported. Far-right groups have also begun patrolling Poland's western frontier, claiming to protect the country from migrant flows. Human rights organisations condemned these vigilante efforts, warning they fuel xenophobia and undermine trust in official institutions. 'The actions of these self-proclaimed groups are the result of a radicalising political narrative,' said the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. 'Debate on migration should be grounded in facts, not fear.'
France 24
07-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Poland starts border checks with Germany in anti-migrant clampdown
Border guards and military police could be seen looking into passing cars and occasionally stopping vehicles for document checks on the bridge connecting the Polish town of Slubice with Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany. The new checks are a response to growing anti-migrant sentiment on both sides of the border. Poland says hundreds of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, cross into the Baltic states from Belarus every month, then travel through Poland into Germany. The issue has become a particularly sensitive one in Polish domestic politics and has led to tensions with Germany. Warsaw has accused Berlin of sending the irregular migrants it manages to intercept back into Poland. "The checks being implemented aim to combat illegal migration," Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak was quoted as saying by his ministry on X. Shortly after the new checks came into force on Monday, Polish border guards detained a man for assisting irregular migration. The Estonian national is accused of transporting four irregular migrants, believed to be from Afghanistan. Siemoniak said the detention was "proof that these checks are necessary". 'Ping-pong game' Germany, which introduced checks on the border with Poland in 2023, has welcomed the Polish initiative and called for collaboration against a common problem. Speaking to the daily Rheinische Post, the head of German police union GdP, Andreas Rosskopf, said the two countries needed a "workable procedure". He warned against Polish and German border guards engaging in a "ping-pong game" with asylum seekers by sending them back and forth. Representatives of German business associations have also voiced concern. "We are receiving worrying feedback from the business community," Helena Melnikov, chief executive of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), told the Handelsblatt newspaper. "If commuters can no longer get to work reliably and on time at the German-Polish border, there is an increased risk that they will look for work elsewhere on a permanent basis –- with consequences for the shortage of skilled workers in border regions," she said. Marek Klodnicki, an administrative employee who lives in Slubice but works in Germany, said the re-introduction of border controls was "very sad". "We have waited so long for open borders," he said, adding that the checks would result in "a disruption in social and economic life". Business owners, particularly hairdressers and tobacco shops, which get a lot of custom from Germans crossing the border, also voiced concern the checks could disrupt business. "Ninety percent of our customers are Germans. We may have less traffic, less revenue," Kinga Dziuba, a 29-year-old cigarette vendor, told AFP. But Dziuba said the checks were "very much needed" to control migration, adding: "Security is more important to me than trade". The issue of migration was central to June's presidential election in Poland, where nationalist Karol Nawrocki -- who ran on a slogan of "Poland first, Poles first" -- narrowly defeated the candidate backed by pro-European Union Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The Tusk government is now seeking to outflank its rivals by taking a tougher approach to immigration. Checks 'unnecessary' In total, 52 checkpoints have been set up on the border with Germany and 13 with Lithuania, Siemoniak said. The controls will last from July 7 to August 5 but could be extended. They will mostly consist of spot inspections, particularly of vehicles carrying several people, officials said. In June, members of a far-right movement gathered at several points along the border to set up "citizens' patrols", which the government insists are illegal. In Slubice, Edyta Taryma, a 54-year-old hair salon owner, said her revenues had already dropped by 20 percent after Germany re-imposed border controls. "A great many people did not come, or came less often, because they were afraid of traffic jams," she said. She called the checks "unnecessary".
