Safe border with Germany. “It is weak to undermine what the police do”

Making political emotions around the situation on the western border is absolutely improper. The security of citizens is an absolute priority for us – said the Minister of the Interior and Administration Tomasz Siemoniak.

The head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, asked by journalists whether the inhabitants of the western areas of Poland – e.g. West Pomeranian or around Zielona Góra, have nothing to fear, he said that he would expect PiS MPs not to build such political emotions around emigrants and what was happening on the border with Germany.

As he said, “especially since this often applies to people who came to visas who were given with a wide hand” during PiS.

“We do everything to make it safe. We increase the forces of the Border Guard and the police, if necessary, we will increase these forces even more,” he assured. As he emphasized, “He does nothing worse than trying to sow panic, disinformation“.

“If anyone thinks that they feel threatened, the police are – the police will act in every such situation and that's it,” he said, assuring that citizens' security is a priority for the government. “Undermining what the Border Guard does, the police or the army is, I would say, very weak (…). It is not politicians, not ministers patrol the streets. They are reliable, honest officers who do everything to make it safe, “he assured.

Siemoniak, asked if German services are releasing migrants on the Polish side, explained that there are two situations here:

• One applies to Readmisja contracts based on the Dublin Treaties. Here, German services are transferred to Polish people with such people if they show that they were in Poland as the first country of the Schengen zone – he explained. “This number is smaller than in 2023, so the attacks of PiS deputies are absolutely unfounded,” he said.
• The second category is people not allowed to Germany because they do not have valid documents to stay in Germany. “These are mostly citizens of Ukraine and Belarus who have a residence permit in Poland and do not have a residence permit in Germany,” explained the minister.

As he said, there are more and more border guards and police on the border. “We strongly protest against the fact that Germany conducts internal controls and – as the prime minister in the Sejm said on the occasion of the debate of a vote of trust – we are considering different steps, so as to control the situation on our side,” Siemoniak told journalists.

He noted that the priority is to carefully check the documents and grounds of each case transmitted by German services. It happens that it turns out that they are people who have crossed the Schengen border for the first time in other countries. “We give a lot of such people to the authorities of Lithuania,” he said.

He assessed that, like other German neighbors, Poland is very hard to approach the inspections. “Everyone is dissatisfied with these internal controls at the borders – Austrians, Luxembourgers, all who experience these situations – and I hope that here a model will be developed here, which will be beneficial primarily for Polish citizens, “assured the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, answering journalists.

Controls on the Polish-German border have been in force since October 2023. They were introduced by Germany to stop illegal migration.

Opposition MPs, incl. Dariusz Matecki (PiS) publish information on the internet about migrants staying in Poland, according to them, transported from Germany contrary to the procedures by the local border services. (PAP)

AGO/ ABA/ AMAC/