Poland prolongs border checks at frontiers with Germany, Lithuania
Poland has decided to extend the period during which temporary selective checks on Poland's borders with Lithuania and Germany are in force by another 60 days, the Polish interior minister has announced.
"The decision to prolong temporary border checks at Poland's frontiers with Germany and Lithuania until October 4 was taken on Friday," Minister Marcin Kierwinski said on Sunday.
Kierwinski added that the regulation had been submitted to the European Commission for notification.
Kierwinski made the announcement after a meeting with provincial governors and services reagrding the situation on Poland's borders on Sunday.
Referring to the "closing of the eastern route to illegal migration," Kierwinski said that the fact the the wall (at Poland's border with Belarus - PAP) was "98-percent tight makes Belarusian and Russian services as well as undocumented migrants move to other routes."
Kierwinski said that the most urgent task now, both for Poland and its EU partners, was to shut down the route which had been moved to Lithuania and Latvia.
He added that "all Poland's partners" had been informed about the decision, and that they had showed their full understanding.
Temporary selective checks on Poland's frontiers with Lithuania and Germany were first introduced on July 7 due to a spike in illegal migration through the country's borders for 30 days, until August 5.
Since 2021, Poland has been struggling to contain a wave of mostly North African and Middle Eastern migrants trying to cross into the country from Belarus. Warsaw has accused Minsk of orchestrating the migration pressure in order to destabilise the EU. (PAP)
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