WARSAW: Poland's government is to extend border checks set up to curb migration via neighbour Slovakia, a senior minister said Thursday, as the official journal of laws announced a 20-day extension.
"These checks have been yielding results," Polish Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik told public radio on Thursday.
"They are also making Slovak authorities aware that they need to take action -- which they have been," he added.
The move came in response to a recent rise in Slovakia in the number of migrants and asylum seekers, largely from Serbia via Hungary, heading to wealthier Western European countries.
Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland introduced checks on their border with Slovakia in early October, then extended them to November 2.
Poland's official Journal of Laws showed that the border checks, which had been to expire Thursday, had been extended to November 22.
The Czech Republic announced a similar decision on Wednesday.
Slovakia said Monday it had detected more than 46,000 undocumented migrants within its borders so far this year.
That day, the Slovak government sent hundreds of police and troops to reinforce the border with Hungary.
The interior minister said that one-off action had been meant to show that "Slovakia is not a safe haven for migrants".
The countries tightening controls are all members of the European Union and of Europe's Schengen open-borders zone.
The reintroduction of border checks in the Schengen Area is permitted in exceptional circumstances, and Brussels must be notified before implementation.