Poland vows to not bow to EU migrant guidelines and threatens to veto any refugee relocation plan

BRUSSELS (AP) — Poland’s prime minister insisted Thursday that his nation wouldn’t be pressured to simply accept European Union guidelines on migration, and he vowed to veto any plan that may drive international locations to soak up refugees.

“An attack on Europe is underway. Europe’s borders are not secure. The safety of the inhabitants of our continent is at stake,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki mentioned in a video assertion. He mentioned he would suggest “a plan for secure borders” to EU leaders at a summit in Brussels.

Earlier this month, EU international locations made a breakthrough on asylum legislation reform, sealing settlement on a plan to share accountability for migrants coming into Europe with out authorization. The problem is on the root of one of many bloc’s longest-running political crises.

The deal balanced the duty for international locations the place most migrants arrive to course of and lodge them towards the requirement for different members to supply help, whether or not monetary or by internet hosting refugees. Countries refusing to take migrants in may pay 20,000 euros ($21,400) per individual as an alternative.

The settlement was sealed with a professional majority vote of round two-thirds. Only Poland and Hungary voted towards. Their goal on the summit is to problem the authorized validity of that call.

Morawiecki mentioned that his “plan is clear — ‘no’ to forced relocation of immigrants, ‘no’ to violations of veto rights by individual states and ‘no’ to violations of the principle of freedom, the principle of decision-making by states alone, ‘no’ to Brussels-imposed penalties on states.”

Poland and Hungary, together with the Czech Republic, refused to simply accept migrant quotas swiftly imposed by the EU in 2015 as nicely over 1,000,000 folks, largely Syrians fleeing battle, entered Europe. The EU’s high court docket dominated in 2020 that that they had did not respect the bloc’s legal guidelines.

The variety of folks attempting to enter the EU with out authorization is on the rise. The border and coast guard company Frontex mentioned that greater than 50,300 makes an attempt have been constituted of January to May. It’s greater than double in the identical interval final yr, and essentially the most since 2017. But migrant arrivals in Europe dwarf these seen in Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan.

Hungary and Poland seem unlikely to reach their quest to have the foundations overturned, however their anti-immigrant stance – backed by different members like Austria or Slovakia – has helped make sure that the EU’s insurance policies deal with conserving folks out and rapidly deporting these not entitled to remain.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose nation presently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, mentioned that solely people who find themselves entitled to remain ought to be allowed in.

“We cannot continue a situation in which people without permits simply travel through Europe and to countries and live in circumstances that are not acceptable. This is one of the converging views in Europe right now. We simply have to do something about that,” he instructed reporters.

The leaders will say that they “remain committed to breaking the business model of traffickers and smuggling networks … and to tackling the root causes of irregular migration so as to better address the flows of migrants,” in response to a draft of their summit assertion seen by The Associated Press.

However, the breakthrough deal opposed by Hungary and Poland – which took years to seal – nonetheless have to be endorsed by the European Parliament. Lawmakers insist that international locations should settle for necessary refugee quotas and that stance would torpedo the plan until they again down.

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