German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday ruled "legitimate" to want to protect its borders, as European states demand EU help to erect barbed wire walls and prevent the massive influx of migrants .
“It seems legitimate to us to protect the external border (
of the EU
) in order to prevent illegal crossings,” he told the tabloid Bild, when asked about the construction of a wall wanted by Poland on its border. with Belarus.
Poland has requested 350 million euros, and mobilized thousands of soldiers at the border, to build a wall on its border with Belarus.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have tried to cross the border since August in a migration move that the EU suspects Belarus has instigated in response to EU sanctions .
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Lithuania also launched the construction of a barbed wire fence along its border with Belarus as interior ministers from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia , Poland and Czech Republic, Slovakia) wrote on October 7 to the Commission asking the EU to finance these constructions.
On Friday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen replied that the European Union would not finance "barbed wire and walls" at the borders.
Reinforced border controls between Germany and Poland
Horst Seehofer also warned on Sunday that border controls with Poland would be tightened, and that 800-strong police forces had already been deployed for this.
And "if it is necessary, I am ready to strengthen them even more", he assured.
Some 5,700 people have crossed the border between the country and Poland illegally since the start of the year, according to figures from the German Interior Ministry.
On Saturday, a suspected smuggler was arrested after 31 illegal immigrants from Iraq were found in a van near the Polish border.
