As of October 18, 2021 1:33 p.m.
In view of the increasing number of unauthorized entry of refugees across the German-Polish border, Interior Minister Seehofer wants to propose measures in the cabinet. The police unions have different proposals for this.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants to bring up the increasing number of unauthorized entries across the Polish-German border in the cabinet. At the meeting on Wednesday, the minister wanted to propose measures on how to deal with the situation, said the ministry’s spokesman, Steve Alter, at the request of the dpa news agency.
Police unions disagree over how to proceed
The Federal Police Union had previously spoken out in favor of temporary border controls due to the increasing number of refugees on the so-called Belarus route. One of the reasons for this is a high number of unauthorized entries. “For several months, the number of apprehensions has been increasing almost explosively,” said chairman Heiko Teggatz in a letter to Seehofer. Only with the introduction of temporary border controls could the federal government prevent a “collapse” at the borders like in 2015, “Bild” quoted him as saying.
On the other hand, the police union (GdP) does not consider this to be necessary at this point in time. “Currently we do not see any reason for border controls,” said the chairman of the Federal Police District of the GdP, Andreas Roßkopf, of the dpa. “Yes, there has to be a reaction, but we prefer an intensification of the border investigation.” The current situation with regard to the number of arriving asylum seekers is not comparable with the situation in autumn 2015.
Head of the Teggatz Federal Police Union calls for border controls because of many refugees from Poland
A. Kartschall, RBB, J. Paczkowski, Tagesschau 12:00 p.m., October 18, 2021
Retaliatory action by Lukashenko suspected
The governments in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are accusing the Belarusian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, of bringing migrants and refugees from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in an organized manner. Lukashenko announced at the end of May that Minsk would no longer prevent migrants from continuing to travel to the EU – in response to tightened Western sanctions against his country.
Since then, reports of attempted irregular border crossings at the EU’s external borders with Belarus and at the German-Polish border have increased. Since August, thousands of migrants – mostly from the Middle East and Africa – have tried to cross the Polish border from Belarus.