Warsaw has issued a firm warning to Berlin: if Germany starts forcing migrants into Poland, the Polish government will refuse to accept them and invoke Article 72 of the EU Treaty, which grants member states full control over public order and internal security.
While official reports described Polish PM Donald Tusk’s Thursday call with incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as focused on Ukraine and transatlantic relations, sources indicate that border controls and migration were also key topics. Poland reportedly made it clear that any escalation would prompt stricter border enforcement and a hard stance on migrant entry.
Merz, for his part, expressed willingness to cooperate and assured Poland that any changes to German migration policy would be discussed jointly. Germany, already under pressure on migration, extended its border control measures until September 2025, in what many see as a political move by Chancellor Scholz ahead of elections.
Since October 2023, Germany has tightened border checks with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, with long-standing controls in place at the Austrian border since 2015. Poland, meanwhile, is preparing to enforce new asylum restrictions passed by its parliament, allowing temporary limits on applications for international protection for up to 60 days at a time.
With coalition talks underway in Berlin, Merz is expected to form a CDU/CSU-SPD government—excluding the Greens—by late April.
