In April, significantly more people entered Germany illegally across the border with Poland than in previous months of this year. In April, the Federal Police registered 2427 illegal entries across the german-Polish border, according to a report in the "Welt" (Wednesday) from a government response to a request from the domestic policy spokesman of the Union parliamentary group, Alexander Throm (CDU). In the months of January to March 2023, the value had been below 1600 in each case. The government's response is also available to the German Press Agency.
"The number of illegal border crossings at the german-Polish border is exploding and the chancellor and interior minister are standing idly by," Throm told the newspaper. In his view, Russia and Belarus are instrumentalizing refugees to destabilize the West, and Turkey is playing along with this game. The German government must set up stationary border controls at the german-Polish border. "In addition, we expect Poland to better secure the EU's external border."
In the first quarter of the current year, the Federal Police registered 15,761 illegal entries, most of them via Poland, followed by Austria and Switzerland.
At last week's refugee summit, the federal and state governments spoke out in favour of expanding stationary border controls. "Depending on the situation, the federal government will also establish the existing border security concept in relation to Austria at other internal borders of Germany after consultation with the relevant states of the Federal Republic of Germany," the resolution paper states.
Actually, in the Schengen area, to which 26 European countries belong, there are no stationary identity checks at the borders. In recent years, however, several states have taken advantage of an exemption. Germany has been controlling Bavaria on the border with Austria since autumn 2015, after tens of thousands of refugees and other migrants made their way from Greece via the Balkan route to Western Europe.