Poland Scraps Temporary Checks on Its Border with Slovakia

Warsaw/Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Poland on Sunday officially ended temporary checks on its border with Slovakia, TASR learnt on the same day. Poland reintroduced border checks due to an increased influx of illegal migrants via the so-called Balkan route on October 4, 2023, originally for ten days. It has repeatedly extended them since then. According to the previous directive issued in late January, the border checks should have been in place until March 2. The Polish Interior Ministry said on Friday (March 1) that the Polish authorities will continuously monitor the migrant situation and might resume border checks if necessary. The Polish Border Guard reported on Friday that its members checked a total of 12,600 persons and 6,800 vehicles at the border with Slovakia over the past two days alone. Both Poland and Slovakia are members of the visa-free Schengen zone, which means that normally they don't carry out checks at common borders. However, several other European countries have extended temporary border checks as part of the fight against illegal migration. ko