Frankfurt an der Oder – Schlubice. Two cities on the border, one German, one Polish. They are separated by the Oder River, swollen by floods in Eastern Europe. Two cities that embody the history of Germany and Poland, Europe of the twentieth century.

Once there was one, but then it was over World War II they broke up One in the GDR and the other in Poland of the Soviet bloc. The Fall of the Wall and the collapse of existing socialism bring cosmogonic changes. German Reunification, EU, Schengen… A new page on sister cities that look like drops of water.

In 2023 the new migration flows from Balkan Street and Belarus, but also the waves of refugees from Ukraine are changing the situation and border controls are being imposed here.

As of midnight yesterday, the same checks that were also in place in the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland have been extended to the western borders of the country: France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark. Initially for six months, but German media are already reporting that they could continue even for two years. Irregular immigration and the Islamist threat may well decide the 2025 federal election.

What is left of the spirit of the Schengen Treaty?

At the German-Polish border we meet policemen, who tell us that they are “doing what they used to do”, just now with more enhanced reflexes. In the morning peak hours, the traffic was increased.

Although the checks are sampled, they nevertheless stop many passing vehicles, mainly trucks, which often use traffickers’ rings. We are told that, despite the controls, migration routes across Europe, through the old Balkan Route, Slovakia, Belarus and Poland in the east, but also Spain and France in the west have always been “active”.

Whether the new controls will be effective or whether the Germany will be able to continue to legally establish emergency grounds for suspending European rules is doubtful.

However, speaking to the German radio station DLF, the former head of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, criticizes Berlin, warning that a systematization of border controls would harm the spirit of the Schengen Agreement.