Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has condemned Germany’s decision to introduce temporary controls at all its land borders in response to irregular migration as “unacceptable”.

He is one of several personalities from neighboring countries who criticize this step. Starting next Monday, existing restrictions will apply at some of Germany’s borders with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark.

The head of the Dutch-German alliance of border communities spoke of a “panic reaction”, while Austria’s interior minister stressed that they would not accept anyone whom Germany rejected.

The conservative opposition in Germany, however, was of the opinion that Berlin had not gone far enough.

The three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government are under increasing pressure to respond to poor results in state elections in eastern Germany, where immigration was the biggest issue.

In Thuringia, the far-right Alternative for Germany came first, and in less than two weeks the next elections will take place in Brandenburg.

The migration debate was sparked by the murder of three people at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, where a rejected Syrian asylum seeker who should have been deported was arrested.

The conservative CDU/CSU parties had initially announced that they would attend a migration summit of the federal government and state leaders on Tuesday in order to reach an agreement on how to proceed.

However, they withdrew and accused the government of not taking seriously the conservative proposals to reject asylum seekers at the border.

“Obviously, the federal government is hopelessly divided internally and cannot agree on effective measures,” said CDU leader Friedrich Merz.

Germany and all its neighbors are part of the border-free Schengen area and are subject to European Union regulations. temporary controls are permitted “as a last resort” measure, in exceptional situations” for up to six months.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explained that the increased controls were intended to protect against the “acute dangers of Islamist terrorism and serious crime”.

According to her plan, which she presented to the 16 German federal states, the police would check whether an asylum seeker had already sought protection in another EU country and, in that case, immediately initiate a return procedure.

However, the Polish Prime Minister left no doubt that the measures were triggered by “the domestic political situation in Germany … and not by our policy towards illegal migration at our borders”.

Poland has been facing an increase in illegal migrant crossings across the border with Belarus since 2021. Poland sees this as part of a “hybrid war” being waged jointly by Belarus and Russia. Many of the migrants are on their way to Germany.

Donald Tusk said at a meeting of Polish diplomats in Warsaw that he would ask for urgent consultations with all countries concerned.

European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said any reintroduction of border controls must be in line with the Schengen Code. Germany’s measures are possible, but these controls must be “necessary and proportionate”.

In Austria, where the far right is leading in opinion polls ahead of elections on September 29, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he had instructed the police chief not to take back anyone who had been rejected by Germany.

“There is no room for maneuver,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The mayor of a Dutch border town, Joris Bengevoord, said the border region with Germany had already experienced delays in the summer during the 2024 European Football Championship, when Germany imposed temporary border controls.

“At some border crossings, waiting times were up to half an hour,” says Bengevoord, chairman of the Euregio alliance of German and Dutch border towns.

The Dutch transport group TLN accused Germany of undermining the Schengen Agreement.

Some right-wing political leaders in the Netherlands take a different view.

“If Germany can do it, why can’t we?” asks Geert Wilders, whose far-right, anti-immigration Freedom Party came first in last year’s Dutch elections and is now part of the government. “In my view, the sooner the better.”

Dilan Yesilgöz of the centre-right liberal VVD was also enthusiastic about the “super interesting” German plan. It sends the message that the government wants control, she said, even if political symbolism alone is of little help.