Poland sets up controls and deploys army on Slovak border to fight irregular migration

Poland today introduced temporary controls on its border with Slovakia and completely closed some crossing points as part of measures to restrict the entry of irregular migrants. He also deployed the military to support new border restrictions.

Similar measures have been taken by Austria and the Czech Republic on their borders with Slovakia, while Slovakia itself announced today that it would introduce controls on its southern border with Hungary.

As members of the Schengen free movement zone, Poland and Slovakia have until now had no checkpoints on their border. However, EU rules allow States to temporarily introduce controls “as a last resort in exceptional situations”.

According to the new Polish measures, it will now only be possible to cross the border at eight road crossings, three railway crossings and 11 pedestrian crossings. This means that many small local roads on the border are closed to traffic. Additionally, only EU citizens and their spouses and children are allowed to cross the border on foot.

Random checks will be carried out for 10 days, until October 13, with the possibility of a further extension of up to two months, the Interior Ministry said.

However, he did not provide details on how the checks will take place in practice, specifying only that “the people or vehicles to be checked will be selected on the basis of a risk analysis”. People crossing the border are advised to take their passport or identity card with them.

Last week, when the Polish Prime Minister for the first time announced that Poland would introduce controls at the border with Slovakia, he indicated possible checks on “minibuses, vans, cars and buses that could be suspected of transporting illegal immigrants”.

Yesterday, during a press conference, Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński revealed that Poland had already recently tightened border controls, arresting 551 people in the last two weeks. The ministry, however, did not respond to Notes from Poland’s questions about the difference between the new checks and those of the last two weeks.

Border guards and the Defense Ministry, however, confirmed that the checks would be supported by the army.

“Soldiers will have the same powers as border guards and will be able to carry out inspections,” announced Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak. “Operational and territorial defense troops as well as engineers have been sent to the border. »

The decision to strengthen controls came after Germany announced its own measures of this type on its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic due to the increasing number of irregular migrants from third countries crossing them.

Many of those transiting through Poland enter the EU from Belarus, where Poland has also introduced strict new border measures, including a wall and electronic surveillance. But others arrive from the south via the Balkans then via Hungary and Slovakia.

Yesterday, Slovak Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor warned that “the process (of introducing border controls) initiated by Poland, which is in the pre-election period, would have a domino effect”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP ). Instead, he called for a Europe-wide solution to migration challenges.

However, Slovakia itself announced today that it would introduce controls on its southern border with Hungary.

Kamiński, for his part, yesterday say again the Polish government’s previous rhetoric accusing European policies of fueling the migration crisis.

“The ease with which illegal migrants obtain the right to stay in the EU and the high social benefits are causing a new influx,” said the Interior Minister. “This policy is irresponsible, unadapted to the challenges and motivated by ideologies. »

“The only appropriate response to the wave of illegal migration flooding Europe is a firm defense of the EU’s external borders and a change to the asylum system in the European Union,” he added.

According to the Slovak Press Agency Novy CaseHowever, the authorities of small Slovak border towns, whose road connection with Poland is now closed, are surprised by this decision.

Michal Didik, mayor of the village of Čirč, said that local residents do not encounter illegal migrants in the area. He also complained that border closures would affect tourism and local businesses.

“I perceive this as (part of) an election campaign in Poland, in my opinion there was no reason to close these crossing points,” he said. Poland will hold parliamentary elections on October 15 and migration has become a central theme of the government and government campaign. opposition.

The head of the Polish border guard, Tomasz Praga, revealed yesterday that while during the whole of last year the Polish authorities arrested just over 100 people on the border with Slovakia, the figure was 900 for just September of this year.

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Main image credit: Maksym Kozlenko / Wikimedia (below CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alicja Ptak is editor of Notes from Poland and multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.