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The barbed wire on the border with Belarus is to be replaced by a permanent fortification
Photo: Dominika Zarzycka / imago images / NurPhoto
Thousands of migrants have tried in recent months to get to Poland and further into the EU via Belarus.
Warsaw initially responded with tightened security at the border and a temporary fence.
Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński has now announced that it will build permanent fortifications.
The plan is to build a "solid, high barrier that will be equipped with a surveillance system and motion detectors," said Kamiński about the project that the government approved on Tuesday evening.
It now has to be approved by Parliament.
The national conservative ruling party PiS no longer has a majority there, but a positive vote is considered likely.
The government in Warsaw has accused the Belarusian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, of bringing refugees from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an organized manner.
Lukashenko announced at the end of May that his country would no longer prevent migrants from continuing to travel to the EU - in response to tightened Western sanctions.
The word wall is avoided
Poland started building a temporary fence along the border with Belarus at the end of August.
This is a barbed wire barricade about 2.50 meters high, which is being erected by soldiers of the Polish army.
This is now to be replaced by the construction of a permanent fortification.
Polish government officials speak of a "barrier" or "lock" - they avoid the word wall.
A budget of the equivalent of 366 million euros is planned for the project.
The Polish border guards are supposed to supervise the construction.
In recent weeks, more and more migrants have come to Germany via the Belarus route.
According to the Federal Police, more than 4,300 people have entered Germany without permission since August.
They came primarily from Iraq as well as from Syria, Yemen and Iran.
svs / dpa
