Poland starts border controls at border with Germany

DW (English)

Crossing the border from Germany into Poland is becoming more difficult, as Poland has started to reinstate border checks in response to similar checks in Germany. Residents of the border region are not happy with delays this causes.

Transcript

00:00The placid river Oda that separates Poland and Germany.

00:04Looking across from Swubice on the Polish side, the skyline of the German city of Frankfurt

00:09Oda is very near.

00:11But from Monday, the traffic over the bridge into Poland has been moving especially slowly.

00:17That's because of increased checks on vehicles and people crossing from Germany.

00:22The Polish government says the measure is a response to illegal migration, but the mayor

00:27of Swubice sounds unhappy about the move.

00:30We live in one city, two cities connected by a river.

00:35And in fact the bridge is not a bridge that divides two countries.

00:39This is a bridge that is our communication route, thanks to which we can move.

00:46At this and more than a dozen other border crossing points between the two countries, Polish border

00:51guards and police are picking out vehicles to stop.

00:55Those who want to cross need an identity card or a passport.

00:58The tougher checks follow similar measures on the German side.

01:03And many Germans who travel regularly to Poland are concerned that will become even more difficult.

01:09It is a restriction of our everyday lives because there have been border controls here on the

01:14German side for a year and a half and now also from the Polish side as of today.

01:19We will feel it, we are already feeling it.

01:22Some asylum seekers have been refused entry by German authorities.

01:26A sensitive issue in Poland where right-wing activists have been spreading the rumour that

01:31Germany is using its neighbour as a dumping ground for rejected asylum seekers.

01:37For now Polish reactions to the Czechs are mixed.

01:40What's happening on the streets of Berlin or other European cities, we don't want that here.

01:47That's a fact.

01:48I see of course that now there are more people from countries that are further away,

01:55but I don't feel it as a threat to me personally.

01:58To us it looks like a politically controlled set-up.

02:05We believe these Czechs do not bring any real impact.

02:08I understand that we have to watch over migration, that we have to control it.

02:15But as Poles, as Germans, as Europeans, we have to find solutions that will be systemic for the

02:21entire European Union so that we do not weaken ourselves.

02:28Even here, in the twin cities on the River Oda, where the idea of Europe's open borders is especially

02:35important, many on both sides worry that a new era of separation is beginning.

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