Situation beyond the eastern border

Today (22 October), Deputy Minister Bartosz Grodecki met with Monique Pariat, Director General of the European Commission's Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs. The meeting concerned the situation on the Poland-Belarus section of the external border of the European Union.

On Thursday (14 October), the Sejm passed a bill on the construction of state border security installations. The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration.

During a press conference at the Border Guard unit in Białystok, Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński presented the current situation on the Polish-Belarusian border, which is the result of coordinated actions of the Belarusian services. The possibility of building a border dam and scenarios for future actions were also discussed.

‘We have decided to build a permanent barrier along the Polish-Belarusian border. The experience of other countries affected by the migrant crisis shows that this is the only effective method’, said Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński. On Thursday (7 October), an away meeting of the National Security and Defence Affairs Committee was held, which focussed on the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border.

Today (6th October), Deputy Minister Bartosz Grodecki met with Olivier Onidi, Deputy Director-General at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs. The meeting concerned the situation at the EU's external border with Belarus. At the same time, an expert meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration and the European Commission.

Today (30 September), Minister Mariusz Kaminski met with Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, to discuss the crisis caused by Belarus' hybrid actions against the EU Member States, primarily Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. In these actions, the Belarusian regime uses migrants instrumentally to destabilise and exert political pressure on these countries.

On Monday morning, the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki attended a briefing at the Border Guard Headquarters (KGSG) in Warsaw. During the meeting, he discussed the current situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. In September alone, there were more than 4,000 illegal attempts to cross the eastern border. The Prime Minister thanked the Border Guard Service and soldiers of the Polish Army for their service and ensuring security at border areas.

No-one should be able to illegally cross the Polish border. This is a fundamental duty of the state, which we intend to fulfil. The actions of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime at the border with Poland are an attempt to destabilise the situation in our country as well as an instrumental abuse of the immigrants. The Government is responsible for the safety of Poles. For this reason, at the request of the Council of Ministers, President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation declaring a state of emergency in certain towns and villages in the Podlaskie and Lubelskie Voivodeships. Today, the Sejm has rejected the motion to repeal this regulation.

The Polish Government is responsible for the safety of our citizens and for the tightness of the eastern border of the European Union. At the request of the Council of Ministers, President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation on declaration of a state of emergency in certain towns and villages located within an approx. 3-km-long strip along the border with Belarus. The Head of the Government has also called the Belarusian authorities to stop their actions and to accept Polish humanitarian aid.

Recently, the situation at the border between Poland and Belarus has become tense. The actions of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime are an attempt to destabilise the situation in Poland and an instrumental game played at the cost of the immigrants. We are responsible for the safety of Poles and the tightness of our borders. For this reason, at the request of the Council of Ministers, President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation declaring a state of emergency in certain towns and villages in the Podlaskie and Lubelskie Voivodeships. The state of emergency has been declared for 30 days and concerns only an approx. 3-km-long strip along the border with Belarus.