Poland won’t accept relocated migrants under EU pact: interior ministry

Poland will not accept migrants relocated from other European Union countries or bear related costs under the bloc’s new migration and asylum pact, the country’s interior ministry said on Friday as the new rules took effect across the EU.

Photo:Polish Border Guard/twitter.com/Straz_Graniczna

The ministry said in a statement that Poland remained opposed to any mechanisms that could undermine national security, adding that negotiations over the past two years had secured provisions reflecting the country’s „specific circumstances,” including exemptions from migrant relocation and associated financial contributions.

Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk said Poland would not implement any provisions of the pact that could reduce security or act as a „pull factor” for irregular migration.

He pointed in particular to border procedures that, if applied along Poland’s frontiers with Belarus and Russia, could be exploited by those countries to destabilise EU asylum and welfare systems.

„Poland’s border is also the border of the entire European Union,” Duszczyk said.

Although Poland is exempt from the relocation mechanism, Duszczyk argued that even voluntary migrant redistribution was unrealistic and difficult to implement in practice, and could fuel disputes within the EU.

He said Poland would continue to push for the mechanism to be scrapped from European migration policy.

The ministry said Poland would incorporate into national law only those elements of the pact that it believes strengthen migration security.

These include new return procedures for migrants without legal status, measures addressing the „weaponization of migration,” and emergency tools for responding to sudden threats or mass migration flows.

The government also said it would maintain measures allowing the temporary suspension of asylum applications at parts of its eastern border, arguing that such policies had proved effective and had been upheld by courts as consistent with Poland’s constitution and international obligations.

The ministry said Poland had successfully advocated within the EU for stronger measures against the use of migration as a political tool and for more effective return policies for people staying in Europe illegally.

It added that Poland supports faster deportation procedures and that the number of successful deportations from the country had risen by 200 percent since 2022.

The ministry also said Poland had significantly reduced irregular migration through its border with Belarus and that temporary controls introduced on its borders with Germany and Lithuania were helping curb migration along what it described as the „eastern migration route.”

According to the ministry, Poland supports a broader overhaul of EU migration policy and has called for the rapid implementation of the principles outlined in the Chisinau Declaration, which places greater emphasis on internal security and the interests of member states.

The ministry said Poland remained open to discussions on new migration management tools but argued that adequate funding for such measures must be included in the EU’s next long-term budget.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl