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 .
Poland has requested 350 million euros, and mobilized thousands of soldiers at the border, to build one on its border with Belarus.
Read alsoThe EU will not finance anti-migrant "barbed wire and walls" at the borders
Asked about the need for this barrier built by Poland, the German Minister of the Interior told the tabloid Bild: "
It seems legitimate to us to protect the external border (of the EU, editor's note) in order to prevent illegal crossings
".
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 .
Polish border controls will be stepped up
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 the 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.
Horst Seehofer also warned on Sunday that border controls with Poland would be tightened, and that police forces, 800 strong, 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.
The German interior minister, who has ruled out closing the border with Poland, wrote to his Polish counterpart Mariusz Kaminski last week to suggest that he increase joint patrols along the border in the face of the growing number of migrants.
Mariusz Kaminski replied that Poland would give its "
full support
" to such measures.
