German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that the EU’s asylum policy will allow border controls to be moved to the external borders of Europe. As he emphasised, this will pave the way for the return of a European Union without internal borders. What may help Germany get rid of unwanted migrants could, however, become a problem for Poland.
According to the head of the German government, shifting “border controls to the external borders of Europe” will restore “what he has always supported”, namely the creation of a space without internal borders in the European Union (UE), Merz said today in Mainz, as quoted by regional broadcaster SWR.
On Monday, interior ministers of EU member states preliminarily approved the European Commission (KE) plan concerning a solidarity mechanism under the migration pact. The plan is to be adopted for one year. Under the solidarity mechanism, 21,000 people will be relocated within the EU next year, and financial support provided by member states to help manage migration pressure will amount to 420 million euros.
Under the solidarity mechanism, each EU state may choose the form of its contribution: relocation, financial payment of 20,000 euros for each person not accepted, or operational support such as seconding personnel.
However, the migration pact exempts, for a given year, countries facing a difficult migration situation. In November, the European Commission (KE) assessed that this applied to six states: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia and Poland.
Temporary controls on all German land borders were introduced in September 2024 by the government of Olaf Scholz. Controls on the borders with Poland, Czechia and Switzerland, however, had already been in force since October 2023. After the parliamentary election in February, the CDU/CSU Christian Democrat bloc announced… a tightening of migration policy, indicating strengthened border controls as one of its tools. What may appear a good solution from the German side will not necessarily be one for Poland. Once controls at the border disappear, it will become much easier for German border guards to transport unwanted migrants from across the Oder back into Poland.