Germany Wants to Deploy More Police at Border With Poland Instead of Reinstating Internal Controls

Instead of having internal border controls at the country’s border with Poland, Minister Faeser has proposed the deployment of additional police officers to the region.

“I am certain that now, by strengthening border controls, this will lead to us now being able to cope jointly with the new migration pressure together,” the statement of Faeser reads.

Nonetheless, such a proposal has not been received well by the mayor of Guben, a border town, who said that the deployment of additional police officers instead of controls is insufficient, AtoZSerwisPlus.de reports.

Since 2007 when Poland joined the Schengen Area, German and Polish citizens have enjoyed unrestricted movement, with more than 1,000 individuals commuting daily between the two towns on the border for work and education purposes.

However, now that the number of irregular entries has started to increase, the mayor of Gubin sees the introduction of internal controls as the only effective measure.

The mayor of Gubin has already invited Minister Faeser on a visit to the town to witness the current situation, but the Minister chose another border crossing point with Poland – Swiecko, which is located a few kilometres south of Frankfurt/Oder.

Even though the Minister visited this part of the border, she still remained firm on her rejection of internal border controls. Faeser said that just like the Czech Republic, Germany could also reduce the number of irregular arrivals by increasing the number of officers.

Faeser argued that introducing internal border controls would severely disrupt the movement from Germany to Poland and vice versa in this part of the country. She further pointed out the stark contrast with the situation at the German-Austrian border where internal border controls are in place.

On the other hand, Guben’s mayor advocates for the introduction of controls while emphasizing the need to address security concerns that the police presence alone may not be sufficient to handle.

Earlier this month, Germany’s Brandenburg and Saxony also demanded the reinstatement of border controls with Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Interior Minister of Brandenburg and Saxony said that the reinstatement of internal border controls with Poland and Czechia is necessary to prevent irregular migration to the country.

Moreover, the ministers said that measures need to be taken as soon as possible as the number of irregular arrivals is expected to increase in the summer months.

Germany currently has internal border controls in place with Austria and it just recently decided to extend such a measure until November.

Data shared by the German authorities show that the internal border control with Austria prevent over 14,670 people from entering the territory of Germany irregularly. For this reason, all Member States have been advised to take the necessary measures for the management and control of irregular migration to the EU.