(6 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Warsaw, Poland – 6 July 2025
1. Wide of Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s Interior Minister at press briefing
2. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s Interior Minister:
"We do not want, we do not agree, we fight against illegal migration and we do everything in this direction so that this illegal migration does not occur. I think that there is no difference in Polish public opinion here. Illegal migration is simply a crime. It is a hybrid tool of Belarus and Russia against Poland, not only Poland, but also the Baltic states and Finland."
3. Siemoniak talking to journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s Interior Minister:
"Preparations have covered 52 border crossing points on the western side (border with Germany). There are 13 such points on the border with Lithuania. Eight hundred border guards, 300 policemen, 200 military policemen, 500 soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces are in full readiness to start operations from midnight."
5. Various of Polish and European Union flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Tomasz Siemoniak, Minister of the Interior and Administration of Poland:
"This decision was made to combat illegal migration. It is not aimed at Polish citizens, citizens of other European Union countries who travel, cross our borders. The Border Guard, other services will try to make these checks as inconvenient as possible."
7. Various of Polish Interior Ministry
STORYLINE:
Poland on Sunday announced new border controls with Germany and Lithuania will last for an initial period of 30 days, though authorities have not ruled out extending them.
"Illegal migration is simply a crime. It is a hybrid tool of Belarus and Russia," said Tomasz Siemoniak, the country’s Interior Minister as he shared an update on the reinstated controls.
Poland’s border with Lithuania, which stretches 104 kilometers (65 miles), will see checks in 13 locations. Its border with Germany, 467 kilometers (290 miles) long, will have controls at 52 crossing points, Siemoniak said.
The decision to reinstate the controls came after new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made tougher migration policy a pillar of his election campaign in February.
After he took office in May, Germany stationed more police at the border and said some asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe’s biggest economy would be turned away.
Even before that, Merz’s predecessor in February had extended by six months the border checks Germany had imposed on all its frontiers last fall as it attempted to cut the number of migrants arriving in the country.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the reinstatement of the country’s border controls earlier this week.
He said he had discussed the issue with Merz, "informing him that the patient position of Poland is slowly being exhausted.”
The European Union has a visa-free travel area known as Schengen that allows citizens of most member states to travel easily across borders for work and pleasure. Switzerland also belongs to Schengen although it is not an EU member.
According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of a serious threat, like internal security.
It says border controls should be applied as a last resort in exceptional situations, and must be limited in time.
AP video shot by Rafal Niedzielski
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