The Polish authorities support the measures taken at European level to combat the instrumentalisation of migrants by Belarus and Russia. Although they voted against the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which in their view does not go far enough in combating this phenomenon (see EUROPE 13550/3), they welcomed the European Commission’s interpretation that an EU Member State may derogate from EU asylum law when faced with a migration emergency orchestrated by a neighbouring third country, an interpretation set out in black and white in a specific Communication published by the European Commission in December (see EUROPE 13543/1).
“We fully comply with what is set out in the December Communication”, said the Polish Ministry of the Interior’s Under-Secretary of State, Maciej Duszczyk, on Thursday 16 January, during a visit by journalists organised by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU to the Połowce-Pieszczatka customs post in the Podlaski region, on the border between Poland and Belarus.
For him, applying 100% of the rules of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will be mandatory starting in 2026, would complicate Polish efforts to limit illegal immigration along the 400-kilometre border that separates the two countries.
In the summer of 2021, the Polish authorities noted an abnormal increase in illegal crossings of the border between Poland and Belarus by migrants from Africa and Asia. In January 2022, the Polish government decided to build a metal fence to deter migrants from entering the country illegally. Five metres high and covered in barbed wire, this barrier has acted as a deterrent but has not stemmed the flow of migrants, which began to rise again in 2023 and 2024.
Last year, there were more than 29,600 attempts to cross the border, of which almost 11,000 were successful, according to Colonel Andrzej Stasiulewicz, commander of the Podlaski Border Guard Division. These figures are almost double the number of attempts recorded in 2022 (over 15,000), which resulted in 7,252 successful crossings.
Faced with this upsurge in illegal border crossings, the Polish authorities have stepped up surveillance with electronic observation equipment spread over the entire 186 kilometres of the metal wall. This work was mainly financed by Poland alone, although the European Commission did contribute to the financing of related equipment (cameras) and infrastructure (carriageway). In December 2024, out of a total of €170 million allocated to six countries, Poland received €52 million.
The Polish government has also passed a bill that would allow the country’s authorities to temporarily derogate from EU asylum law. In its view, protecting the EU’s external border means keeping the internal borders of the Schengen area open.
In front of the press, the Polish authorities insisted on the involvement of the Belarusian authorities in the instrumentalisation of migration, from its participation in the transport to the border with Poland of migrants who are granted temporary visas. Several videos were shown of how men in uniform guided candidates for EU entry through difficult terrain consisting of woods, peat bogs and marshes.
The aggressiveness of some migrants, allegedly encouraged by the Belarusian authorities, has also been pointed out, with some images showing individuals attempting from Belarus to destroy the surveillance infrastructure deployed on the Polish side. These tensions culminated in the death of a Polish soldier who was trying to prevent the entry of migrants.
No fewer than 50 nationalities have been identified among the illegal migrants. In 2024, the most represented nationalities were Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis, mainly young men paying between $8,000 and $12,000 to try their luck in the EU.
No pushbacks of migrants? When asked about the accusations of pushbacks of migrants made by certain NGOs, Mr Duszczyk refuted the argument. In his view, pushbacks occur when illegal migrants who have already been registered by the authorities in the country where they first entered the EU are forcibly returned to Belarus. Many do not want to submit an application that would force them to stay in Poland. And sometimes “they ask to return voluntarily to Belarus to try their luck again later”, said Mr Duszczyk.
The Under-Secretary of State also referred to the fact that in 80% of cases, the authorities authorise Médecins Sans Frontières to enter the buffer zone along the border, which was created to prevent trafficking networks in Poland from making contact with migrants who have entered Poland and transporting them further west.
“Some NGOs focus solely on human rights. We are doing our best with a ‘zero fatalities’ approach, which has earned me a great deal of criticism”, he argued.
In 2023, 18 migrant deaths were officially recorded, compared with just one in 2024. According to the administration at the Podlaski border crossing, this improvement is also due to the rapid medical treatment of those intercepted. In 2024, 307 people even had to be hospitalised.
According to the Polish NGO We are Monitoring, which monitors the migration situation on the border between Poland and Belarus, 89 migrants have died since the crisis began in 2021, and there have been 11,035 pushbacks.
Closed since June 2023, the border crossing serves as the first reception centre for migrants who have decided to apply for asylum in Poland. 2,685 people applied in 2024 (547 in 2023), sometimes because they no longer had enough money to pay the traffickers - mainly Ukrainians - who would bring them closer to their final destination. However, according to the administration at the Połowce-Pieszczatka border crossing, more than 80% of migrants who have applied for international protection later leave for the West without waiting for the procedure to be completed. This is not the case for Ukrainians or Belarusians, who remain in Poland when they apply for international protection.
The metal fence described is part of the ‘Shield East’ strategy to protect Poland from hybrid actions - instrumentalisation of migrants, air threats, cyber attacks, disinformation - of destabilisation by Russia. Warsaw, whose military spending has soared, no longer rules out the possibility of military aggression.
However, this infrastructure is not without environmental consequences for the region, which is home to the Białowieża Forest, the last primary forest in the EU. This forest, which extends mainly on the Belarusian side, is home to the European bison, which can no longer roam freely. Tensions between Poland and Belarus are preventing any cross-border collaboration that would make it possible to preserve a unique biodiversity.
“We want to de-escalate the situation at the border, but unfortunately this is not Belarus’ intention”, especially with the upcoming elections there, Mr Duszczyk regretted.
To see the presentation by the head of the Podlaski Border Guard Division: https://aeur.eu/f/f3v (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)