EU country sets up border controls as migration debate gets heated

Poland is set to implement temporary border controls along its frontiers with Germany and Lithuania from next week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced.

The controls, which will come into force on 7 July, will see Poland join a growing number of European Union nations reinstating checks to curb illegal migration.

The move comes amid escalating domestic tensions over migration, with nationalist opposition parties accusing Mr Tusk's liberal government of accepting a significant number of undocumented migrants returned from Germany.

The government, however, maintains that these figures are limited.

The debate surrounding migration in Poland has intensified considerably in recent weeks, marked by far-right activists initiating their own patrols along the German border.

The reintroduction of border checks underscores the persistent challenges faced by EU member states in managing migration flows and the political sensitivities surrounding the issue within Poland.

"We consider the temporary reintroduction of controls necessary to reduce the uncontrolled flows of migrants across the Polish-German border to a minimum," Mr Tusk told a government meeting.

Germany said in February that it was extending its own temporary border controls for six months.

The controls, which were brought in following a string of deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers, came after the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) made big gains in local elections.

The aim, according to the German government, is to curb migration and “protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime”.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that Germany wants to preserve the EU's Schengen open border scheme, which allows passport-free movement, but that would only work 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," Mr Merz told a news conference.

"So, we have a common problem here that we want to solve together."

Poland has been facing what it says is a migrant crisis orchestrated by Belarus and Russia on its eastern border since 2021.

Both countries deny encouraging migrants to cross.