Starting from 7 July 2025, Poland will be temporarily reinstating border controls with Germany and Lithuania. The measure aims to reduce irregular migrant crossings and is supported by Germany, while receiving criticism from neighbouring European countries.
The decision to reinstate the border controls was made during a government meeting with the Polish border guard on Tuesday 7 July. The meeting took place as domestic political pressure grows and as far-right backed patrols have been taking place at the border crossing with Germany over the past few weeks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk blames Germany’s policy shift for the measure.
"There is no other way."
— DW News (@dwnews) July 1, 2025
Amid tensions over Germany's stepped-up efforts to curb irregular migration, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced temporary controls on Poland's borders with Germany starting next week. pic.twitter.com/yspF8s3ZAb
Since the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office, Germany has been deploying more police at its borders and has been denying entry to some people trying to cross. According to Tusk, many of those people who were sent away turned to Poland. The Polish Prime Minister said that even though he had spoken with his German counterpart several times regarding the matter, warning him that Poland’s patience was running out, the situation hadn’t changed.
“With no border checks on the Polish side, it becomes difficult to determine whether those being returned or redirected to Poland should be sent there. We have been defenders of the Schengen area 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,” Tusk said in a statement
Following the news from Poland, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was asked about the situation during a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg.
“We 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 said. While addressing the press, Merz also added that there is no repatriation tourism from Germany to Poland as some Polish media have been claiming.
Wir beide schätzen die Freizügigkeit im Schengen-Raum und wollen sie erhalten. Das funktioniert nur, wenn sie nicht missbraucht wird. Deshalb müssen wir die irreguläre Migration bekämpfen – gemeinsam und europäisch.
— Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (@bundeskanzler) July 1, 2025
Lieber @LucFrieden, ich freue mich, dich in Berlin zu begrüßen. pic.twitter.com/dCxLTiJoAA
Schengen area threatened
During the meeting with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden in Berlin, Friedrich Merz emphasised that the controls would be temporary and should disrupt travellers as little as possible. While Luxembourg’s Prime Minister agreed that illegal immigration is intolerable, he emphasised that the economic cooperation within the EU’s internal borders was not to be disrupted, proposing to increase police cooperation instead in order to reduce the controls.
While the Schengen area, created in 1995, has become a flagship pillar of the European Union, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls under certain circumstances. To be able to do this, there has to be a serious threat – for example, internal security. However, border controls should be considered as a last resort, limited to exceptional situations and reduced in time.
Over the last couple of years, several countries have decided to reintroduce border controls within the Schengen area. In December 2024, the Netherlands started controlling its borders with Germany and Belgium, while France had already reintroduced border controls in October 2024.
