At least until mid-June, perhaps even longer, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the extension of stationary border controls at border crossings, including those in Poland. This decision poses a challenge for entrepreneurs and employees who cross the border to reach their workplaces.
“Germany has a right to its concerns, but Polish entrepreneurs and residents of the Polish-German border area also function within certain boundaries that need to be respected. We get the impression that the repeated extension of stationary controls no longer has a substantive justification. We expect the Government and the Self-Government to address this issue, as the situation is very challenging,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, president of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin.
The Northern Chamber of Commerce’s appeal mainly refers to the fact that we have the impression that the issue of entrepreneurs and employees operating on the Polish-German border is not a subject that has been taken seriously enough.
“The situation is serious for several reasons. First, stationary controls lasting for several months mean that sometimes reaching work in Germany takes employees and entrepreneurs a few to even several minutes longer each day. The second problem is the recurring protests of farmers and other professions, which also hinder movement between countries. When these two problems overlap, which has already happened several times, we face a situation where reaching work, clients or patients is complicated,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, adding “If this situation continues for the next six months, we want to know the substantive justification for this decision, for example, the number of migrants detained at the border with Poland.”
“Germany is Poland’s biggest economic partner in terms of trade and staff exchange. Controls within the Schengen zone never facilitate the flow of goods, always resulting in an extension of delivery times and significant cost increases. These controls are troublesome for the TSL sector,” says Laura Hołowacz, transport and logistics expert, President of the CSL Group.
More and more complaints are reaching the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin from entrepreneurs who are finding their operations complicated by the reduced fluidity at the border between Poland and Germany. This includes companies in the TSL sector, trade, medical and care services.
“Entrepreneurs point out that we are members of the Schengen area and according to EU legislation, we should have the ability to freely cross internal EU borders. We do not deny Germany the right to border controls. However, we want them to be less burdensome than they currently are,” says Hanna Mojsiuk.
The Northern Chamber of Commerce will raise this issue during the planned meetings with local government representatives from Western Pomerania in March and April.
