Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has announced that Poland will introduce temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania from Monday, July 7, 2025, amid growing tensions over irregular migration.
The move to introduce temporary border controls with Lithuania was understood to be linked to the German policy change.
The decision, made after a government meeting with the Polish border guard, comes in response to growing domestic political pressure and far-right backed protests at Poland’s border crossings with Germany over the weekend.
In remarks at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, Tusk blamed Germany for the move, accusing it of a policy shift resulting in “effectively refusing entry … to migrants who are heading to Germany to apply for asylum or other forms of status.”
“The way operations are conducted at the Polish-German border has clearly changed over the past month.”
Donald Tusk
German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, made a more hardline migration policy a pillar of his election campaign earlier this year.
After he took office in May, Germany stationed more police at the border and said some people trying to enter the country would be turned away.
Even before that, Merz’s predecessor in February extended by six months the temporary border checks Germany had imposed on its frontiers last autumn, as it attempted to cut the number of people arriving in the country.
Tusk argued that the recent policy shift had placed undue pressure on Poland to accept individuals denied entry at the German border.
Tusk added that he had spoken “several times” with Merz, warning him that Poland’s “patient stance … was wearing thin.”
“We have been defenders of the Schengen area [the EU’s visa-free travel zone] and remain advocates of a Europe with open borders and unrestricted movement. However, such a system requires the same, symmetrical commitment from all neighbouring countries.
“Therefore, the temporary reinstatement of border controls on the Polish-German border is necessary to reduce, to the minimum, the uncontrolled flow of migrants crossing … the border.”
Donald Tusk
The European Union has a visa-free travel area known as Schengen that allows citizens of most member states to travel easily across borders for work and pleasure.
Several of Germany’s neighbors have also recently expressed dismay at the enforced border controls by Berlin, saying it slows down cross-border traffic of daily commuters and threatens visa-free Schengen travel.
Poland To Respond If Germany Extends One-sided Border Controls
Moreover, Tusk warned that if the German government extended one-sided border controls in September, Poland would retaliate with a similar move.
“The time when Poland would not respond appropriately to such actions has definitively come to an end.”
Donald Tusk
Tusk said that with the heavily militarised Polish-Belarusian border closed to irregular migration, other neighbouring countries were now being used to explore alternative routes into the Schengen area through the Baltics.
As a result, he said, “the stream of illegal migration, orchestrated by Russia and Belarus, continues to flow through Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania – and Poland, after all, has an open border with Lithuania.”
Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference minutes before Tusk announced Poland’s decision, Merz said that he was aware of Polish concerns and had repeatedly spoken with the Polish Prime Minister in recent days.
He insisted that there were “no returns from Germany to Poland of asylum seekers who had already arrived in Germany.”
Merz said that the two countries “have a common problem that we want to solve together.”
“We naturally want to preserve the Schengen area, but freedom of movement in the Schengen area will only work in the long term if it is not abused by those who promote irregular migration, in particular by smuggling migrants.”
Friedrich Merz
According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of a serious threat, such as internal security.
It says that border controls should be applied as a last resort in exceptional situations, and must be limited in time.
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