Poland reinstated temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania at midnight on 7 July, citing a need to curb irregular migration. The measure applies throughout the 467-kilometre German frontier and along Poland’s north-eastern border with Lithuania, both of which normally fall under the European Union’s passport-free Schengen regime. Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the checks will run for an initial 30 days and focus on buses, minibuses and cars carrying multiple passengers or with tinted windows. Authorities have designated 52 checkpoints on the German border and 13 on the Lithuanian side; travellers must carry identity documents, but officials insist routine cross-border traffic should face minimal delays. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the decision as a response to stricter German policing introduced in 2023 and recently tightened returns of asylum-seekers. "We are doing this for you as well—for the Germans, the Dutch, the French—because this is the European Union’s border," he told reporters, adding that Warsaw may extend the controls if migration pressure persists. To reinforce the operation, the Polish army is deploying about 5,000 soldiers and unmanned aerial vehicles to support border guards. While Berlin’s interior ministry welcomed the move as a shared effort to manage migration, German business groups and some EU lawmakers warned that prolonged controls risk disrupting supply chains and eroding confidence in the Schengen system.