FLASH
Shkruar nga Lisa Haseldine
Starting next Monday, Warsaw will begin implementing border controls at the crossing points it shares with Germany and Lithuania.
Freedom of movement in the EU took another nail in the coffin yesterday, as Poland became the latest European country to introduce controls along its shared borders with member states. Starting next Monday, Warsaw will begin implementing border controls at crossing points it shares with Germany and Lithuania.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he felt compelled to impose border controls in particular to “minimize uncontrolled flows of migrants across the Polish-German border.” The source of Tusk’s anxiety is the tougher border regime introduced by new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz less than two months ago. Under the new measures, German border guards have been given the power to stop and turn back anyone trying to enter the country without proper documentation. The federal police have also been given the power to reject asylum seekers at the border if they have reason to do so.
Contrary to Tusk's accusations, the flow of migrants has been far from "uncontrolled": according to German authorities, only 3,488 migrants have been turned back at the country's shared border with Poland. But Tusk's criticism speaks to the tension between Germany and Poland that has long been growing.
Merz entered the Berlin chancellery in May after a violent election campaign in which the migration debate was ignited by the inflammatory but effective rhetoric of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. More than 3 million asylum seekers have entered Germany in the past decade, putting a strain on the country's essential social infrastructure, adding fuel to the fire of the AfD's anti-migrant messaging and increasing pressure on politicians in Berlin to be seen to be addressing the issue.
In fact, Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, was the first to deal a blow to the Schengen Zone system when his government introduced “temporary” border controls in the fall of 2023. These measures were most recently extended in February of this year. They appear to be working: the number of illegal migrants entering Germany fell from a post-pandemic peak of 127,549 in 2023 to 83,572 last year, with German authorities hoping that number will fall back to just over 30,000 by the end of this year.
However, Merz made a campaign promise on the first day to crack down on illegal border crossings even further, not least to show the nearly one in four Germans who voted for the AfD in February’s election that their concerns about migration were being heard. Merz’s legislation has not been without controversy, with critics claiming it violates the EU constitution, while supporters say it is simply implementing the terms of the EU’s Dublin Regulation, under which asylum seekers are obliged to seek asylum in whichever European country they first enter. Germany, of course, has no external EU borders.
In remarks that are sure to further fuel tensions with Poland, Merz hit back at Tusk yesterday: “ We currently have to implement border controls because the protection of Europe’s external borders is not sufficiently guaranteed.”
But, as in Germany, the migration issue in Poland dates back more than just the past few months, and the country now finds itself squeezed on both sides. Since late 2023, the country has been experiencing pressure along its eastern border, specifically on the 250-mile stretch it shares with Belarus. Belarusian and Russian authorities have been waging an ‘armed migration’ campaign against the EU for several years, encouraging migrants mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa to travel through their countries and try to cross en masse along their shared borders with EU member states, including Poland.
According to Polish authorities, over 30,000 migrants crossed into the country this way last year, a 16% increase compared to 2023. Migration figured heavily in Poland's presidential election last month, which was won by conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.
"Order must be established on the western border ," Nawrocki said. As such, domestic pressure is continuing to pile on Tusk to combat the influx of migrants into Poland.
This latest blow to the sanctity of the Schengen Area by Poland shows the extent to which the EU and its leadership are beginning to strain under the pressure, both literal and political, of the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe. It also suggests, in particular, that Belarus, and its rulers in the Kremlin, are succeeding in their policy of trying to sow chaos and instability across the continent by using migration as a weapon. Poland will almost certainly not be the last to succumb to pressure to curb freedom of movement across the bloc.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced this week that she did not approve of Merz's new border regime.
"If someone says 'asylum' at the German border, then they have to first undergo a procedure right at the border, if you will, " she said with particular emphasis while meeting with a group of refugees earlier this week.
But as next month approaches the tenth anniversary of her open-door asylum policy and slogan "Wir schaffen das," the irony is not lost that, through her policies, this most Europhile politician may be responsible for the bloc's weakening, if not its total collapse.
The war of words between Merz and Tusk touches on the core of the problem facing the EU when it comes to dealing with the migration crisis that has been going on for almost a decade. It is becoming increasingly clear that to have freedom of movement within the bloc, the EU must protect its external borders with a ferocity that it cannot, or will not, provide. Until that moment comes, Merz has taken the first step and made Germany's position clear: every man for himself. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "TheSpectator"
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