Ultra-rightist and anti-immigration citizen "patrols" inflame tensions on the German-Polish border.

BerlinMembers of the self-proclaimed ultranationalist Polish "citizen patrols" have been protesting for days on the German-Polish border against the forced return to Poland of migrants whom German authorities believe have entered their territory illegally from the neighboring country. Under pressure from the extremists, the Polish government on Monday reinstated temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania to combat irregular immigration and requested permission from the European Commission to temporarily suspend the Schengen Area. It thus joins the 10 European states that have already done so and currently maintain a suspension of the free movement of people at some point along their borders.

The actions on the border by activists linked to the so-called Border Defense Movement, founded by ultranationalist leader Robert Bakiewicz, are inflaming tensions between Berlin and Warsaw and highlighting the differences between the Polish prime minister and president on immigration issues. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called on ultra-right "patrolmen" to return home, while the president-elect, the ultra-nationalist Karol Nawrocki, applauds his actions, as do the two main opposition parties: the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), which supported Nawrocki, and the far-right Confederation party.

"Only the Border Guard has the right to control our borders," government spokesman Adam Szłapka reiterated a few days ago. "Anyone who impersonates an agent or hinders their work will face the consequences," he warned.

Videos of ultra-nationalist activists blocking the border at various points, searching vehicles, demanding papers from people who appear to be foreigners, or "detaining" illegal immigrants on their own, despite not having authorization to do so, have been published on social media and in the Polish press.

Capitalization of the ultranationalists

He President-elect of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, He blames the prime minister for some of the conflicts that have occurred in recent days between ultra-nationalist activists patrolling the Polish-German border and Border Guard officers and denounces the lack of action by the Tusk government.

Nawrocki thanked the ultra-nationalist Bakiewicz for his "civic duty at the border." "I am deeply pained that the Polish state has failed to manage the border crisis for months. It has failed because Germany has been sending undocumented migrants to Poland. Polish citizens have reacted to this situation and I thank them," said Nawrocki, who promised that, starting August 6, when they press "safe."

"Why is entry into Germany monitored by German police and entry into Poland monitored by ordinary citizens? "Where is our state when you need it?" Slawomir Mentzen, leader of the Polish far-right party Confederation, asked a few days ago on the social network X. "If Confederation were in power, any German police officer trying to bring migrants into our country would be arrested, their police vehicle would be seized, and the migrant would be immediately deported," he added. "Unfortunately, Tusk rules and the Germans do what they want," he denounced.

Under pressure from extremists, the Polish government reinstated temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania on Monday to combat illegal immigration. Warsaw will also implement controls on the border with Lithuania to curb the arrival of migrants entering the country from Belarus and the Baltic countries. The Polish government assures that the controls will be "selective" at the borders with Germany and Lithuania and that "only certain people or vehicles entering Poland will be checked, without unnecessarily disrupting border traffic."

The executive claims that thanks to the measures taken by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government, the number of attempts to cross the border illegally has decreased. The border between Poland and Belarus is now under control, according to Tusk's government.

Germany has maintained temporary controls on its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic to combat illegal immigration since 2023. At that time, Poland was under the PiS party. But in 2024, Berlin expanded these controls to all its borders..

A Schengen area in slump

The Schengen Area is one of the European Union's raisons d'être, and until recently, European leaders hailed it as one of the blog's most successful joint projects. But in recent years, given the rise of the far right, an increasing number of member states are opting to reestablish border control between EU countries and, therefore, in practice, are not allowing the free movement of citizens of the states that make up the Schengen Area.

A priori, the governments that have asked the European Commission to implement border controls argue that they want to maintain them temporarily, not permanently. However, quite a few countries have had customs authorities deployed at the borders with other states that are part of the Schengen Area for months or even years. Specifically, 11 of the 29 countries in this free movement zone currently interrupt it with border controls, including—in addition to Poland—Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

In turn, the European Commission announced this Monday that it has received Warsaw's request to deploy border controls within the Schengen area and downplayed the fact that more and more countries are respecting it. In this regard, the spokesperson for Home Affairs of the European Commission, Markus Lammert, recalled in a press conference that this is a right that state governments have whenever they deem it necessary and avoided assessing whether these countries have sufficient reason to reinstate border controls and whether the free movement project is in danger.