Polish prime minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday, July 1st, that his country will impose temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania starting July 7.
This decision comes in reaction to Germany’s tightened asylum laws, and Polish citizens’ growing frustration with an uncontrolled influx of migrants being pushed back by German authorities across the border.
Tusk portrayed the move as a necessary balancing act under Schengen rules, aiming to prevent “uncontrolled migrant flows” from Germany and Lithuania.
The announcement comes at a critical moment for Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition. According to recent opinion polls, his party has lost ground amidst voter anger over the migration crisis and widespread concern about public safety.
According to the latest opinion polls, the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party has overtaken Tusk’s Civic Coalition: the former has 30.5% support, the latter 26%. In third place is the strongly anti-immigration party Konfederacja with 17%.
The move announced on Tuesday can be seen as a desperate attempt to regain popular support by adopting the tough migration rhetoric.
In response to German federal police dumping illegal migrants in Polish territory, some citizens have founded the ‘Border Defense Movement,’ which patrols the German border to prevent both illegal entries and the allegedly unlawful deportation operations of the German police.
