Jo Harper
10 September 2024•Update: 10 September 2024
WARSAW
The decision by Germany to start controls on all land borders is unacceptable, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday, arguing that Berlin's actions mean "de facto a large-scale suspension of the Schengen area."
“Such actions are unacceptable from the Polish perspective,” Tusk said on Tuesday in Warsaw at a meeting of heads of Polish diplomatic missions.
The Schengen area includes 25 of the 27 EU member states and other countries, and allows free travel between them without border controls.
Germany is introducing temporary border controls in its fight against illegal migration and the threat of extremism, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Monday, announcing that controls on land borders will begin on Sept. 16 and last for six months.
The country shares a land border with the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
“Poland does not need to strengthen controls on our border, but to strengthen the participation of countries such as Germany in guarding and securing the external borders of the European Union,” Tusk said.
He also canceled his trip to Potsdam this week, where he was to receive an award. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also canceled his participation in the ceremony.
"In the coming hours we will contact other countries that will be affected by these decisions of Berlin for urgent consultations on the action on the EU forum in this matter. I hope that we will discuss this in the spirit of the European Union," he said.
“In this matter, pressure from Poland and other countries - as cordial as it will be - will cause a correction in thinking about the common policy towards threats resulting from illegal migration. Today, Poland does not need anyone to lecture us on this issue. We were the most consistent country when it comes to warning against imprudent decisions concerning both Ukraine, Russia and migration policy."
He added: "We will be the guarantors that this policy will never turn into xenophobic policy. We have undertaken a difficult task and Poland is fulfilling this task well. We do not fall into the trap of populism or authoritarian tendencies, but at the same time we do not succumb to the myth that democracy and human rights are in conflict with the tough policy of the state when it comes to defending the border."
Berlin has been looking for ways to curb migration in the face of public concern and following a deadly knife attack last month in the city of Solingen. Three people were fatally stabbed at a street festival in the western town.
The AfD earlier this month became the first far-right party since World War II to win a state election, in Thuringia, after campaigning on the issue of migration.
