A new frontier for a new era

Poland has set up new entry restrictions in advance of joining the European Union. From now on, citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia must all have visas. Keen not to be seen as a snubbing its former Eastern bloc comrades, Warsaw insists visas will be easy to get, but queues on the first day suggested otherwise. In Poland's Bug River border sector, entries from Belarus and Ukraine fell to about 500 in the first 12 hours. It is a dramatic drop considering some 30,000 people crossed during the previous 24-hours. Authorities have been preparing for around five years to protect Poland's 12,000-kilometre eastern border. The EU has spent some 85-million euros training and furnishing staff at 15 frontier posts with hi-tech security material. Since the accord was signed in 1997, the EU says no expense has been spared creating a visa system to tighten up a border porous to drugs, immigrants and arms. Guards have been given night-vision devices, off-road vehicles and training to stop smugglers and criminals. While Ukrainians can get in for free because of a bilateral deal with Warsaw, Poland has a reciprocal agreement with Belarus and Russia over single and multiple entry visas which cost between ten and 50 euros. Some fear such prices will hurt thousands of traders and workers who have relied on easy access to their more prosperous neighbour since the Soviet Union fell. But many Ukrainians and Belarussians, who supplement meagre incomes by selling cigarettes, vodka and goods in Poland, say they will keep trading, but prices will rise.