On the night of 2rd and 3rd July, a scandal occurred on the border bridge in Łęknica – the German national Police were to push the 18-year-old Afghan citizen to Poland without any agreement with Polish services. According to the diary Die Welt, the young migrant was simply left in the Polish territory – without documents, supervision or contact with local authorities.
According to German media coverage, originally the officers of the German national Police attempted to make an illegal handover of the Afghanman close Gubin. However, there were 2 factors – civic patrol and officers of the Polish Border Guard. Joint intervention blocked the border crossing.
However, this event did not end the operation. Migrants were transported about 60 kilometres to the south, to Łęknica, where – under the cover of the night – they managed to push it freely to the Polish side. By Die WeltThere were no Border defender officers or civilian servants. The man was alone, left unattended, like an illegal package.
Warsaw: It was unacceptable
On Thursday morning, Chief Border defender General Robert Bagan referred to the case. In an interview with the head of the German national Police, Dr Dieter Romann, expressed his firm opposition to the actions of German services. He stressed that the situation is simply a violation of earlier agreements between Poland and Germany, and that specified a procedure must not be repeated.
The SG's authoritative communication points out that despite existing procedures for the transfer of migrants between EU countries, The Germans did not inform the Polish side about their actions and did not wait for the Border defender patrol. The action was considered to be ‘unacceptable and contrary to the arrangements in force’.
Germany explains
The German side expressed regret. The national authorities have ensured that the full situation was of a incidental nature and did not conform to the procedures. At the same time, both parties announced that the case would be examined internally to avoid akin infringements in the future. Nevertheless, the full situation raises serious questions about real adherence by the western neighbour of Poland. If akin "incidents" repeat themselves, it will be hard to talk about trust or cooperation in border security.
Particular attention is paid to the effectiveness of the citizens' guards in the full case. It was they – in cooperation with the Border defender – who prevented the first effort to transport a migrant in Gubina. Their vigilance, fast consequence and presence on the ground have one more time shown that bottom-up social mobilization can truly support the state in areas where formal structures are overloaded or absent. Today, more and more people see them not only as an expression of local commitment, but besides as a concrete operational value. Although they deficiency the competence of uniformed services, they service as the “first line” of reflection – they evidence movements, call for officers, paper cases of border violations. In practice, this means 1 thing: without the presence of civilian patrols, many incidents at the border could stay unnoticed – or, as in the case of Lęknica, take place in silence and without responsibility.
The current situation shows that the safety of the borders of the European Union is increasing. In the background, there is not only the fight against illegal migration, but besides the blurring of work between associate States. erstwhile 1 works outside the procedures, the full structure of the Schengen area becomes little stable.
We don't truly believe that it was just a mistake – it was a test. A test of vigilance, procedures and social commitment. And this test, at least in part, passed the civilian Guard. Her presence at the border showed that the state and citizens can act together to defend the most crucial – legal order and security.
