Border controls with Poland: Police union expects long traffic jams

Frankfurt (Oder). The German Police Union (GdP) fears major traffic jams during the peak holiday season as a result of the German border controls with Poland. "They are unavoidable, because the checkpoints are not essentially full checks, but rather transit checks, but they slow down traffic," said Andreas Roßkopf, GdP Chairman for the Federal Police and Customs. He called on the federal government to conduct more mobile checks. According to him, the new border controls in Poland are leading to the neighboring country refusing to accept more migrants, who are being turned back.

Germany has been conducting random border checks with Poland since October 2023 to stop irregular migration. This is causing traffic disruptions in Poland. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) ordered more intensive border controls in May. Poland responded with its own controls, which began on July 7 and are initially scheduled to last until August 5. These controls are also causing traffic disruptions. On Thursday, for example, a kilometer-long traffic jam formed on the A 12 near Frankfurt (Oder).

The Federal Ministry of the Interior is working with the Federal Police to explore a solution to reduce traffic disruptions due to German controls. Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) is proposing the introduction of a third lane on Autobahn 12. The Federal Police sees challenges in this: "We don't have the structural conditions everywhere," said Roßkopf. The Federal Police are making every effort to ensure that commuters, holidaymakers, and delivery vehicles continue to flow as smoothly as possible.

Andreas Roßkopf, Chairman of the Police Union (GdP) for the Federal Police and Customs

Source: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The GdP chairman for Federal Police and Customs believes more flexible controls make sense. "We really need to consider whether we can conduct more intelligent controls," suggested Roßkopf. Concepts for flexible border control points using containers and drone technology already exist. However, there has been a failure to "expand the Federal Police into a modern border police force."

According to the Federal Police, Poland has been accepting fewer migrants that Germany rejects at the border since the introduction of border controls. "Fortunately, this back and forth hasn't happened on a large scale. However, we're increasingly seeing that people we want to reject are either not being accepted by the Poles or are being sent back," said Roßkopf. While this isn't a large-scale ping-pong game, "every rejection means a bit more work for the Federal Police."

The union is fundamentally skeptical about the more intensive controls on the German side since May. "The Federal Police are turning away a great many people, well over 6,000, 7,000 per month," said Roßkopf. "However, the number of asylum and protection applications is in the low three-digit or mid-three-digit range." Given the increased workload for the Federal Police, the question arises "how long we can keep this up."

RND/dpa