Poland rejects EU migration statement at summit in Spain: PM
Wesprzyj naszą pracę na Go Fund Me. Dziękujemy!Poland rejected a joint statement on migration at the conclusion of the European Union’s informal summit in Granada, Spain, on Friday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Mateusz Morawiecki PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Speaking to reporters after the summit ended in the southern Spanish city, Morawiecki said: „The EU summit, with illegal immigration as a leading topic, has come to an end … I expressed our stance very strongly and I made a decision to veto the part that concerned migration.”
’Strong external border protection’
He added, as quoted by his office: „I have outlined our five-point plan. We don’t just raise a red flag by saying this is an alert; we put forward a solution to address it.”
He elaborated that „the first point is very strong external border protection” and „the second point of the plan is to decisively fight people smugglers.”
„I also proposed to cut off social benefits for illegal immigrants,” he said. „In Poland, we don’t have this kind of social benefits.”
’A rod, not a fish’
He told reporters he had offered „a helping hand” to Poland’s EU partners, „both in guarding external borders and in readmission; in other words, a rod, not a fish, for those countries where migrants come from.”
„As a responsible politician, I reject the whole paragraph of summit conclusions regarding migration,” Morawiecki wrote on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
’We want peace and security’
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Morawiecki said that „Poland strongly rejects the plan to take in illegal immigrants for the sake of our country’s security.”
He argued that „in many countries, illegal immigrants are the cause of the lack of safety on the streets.”
„We want peace and security,” he declared. „We will defend Poles’ right to security.”
’Migration is a European challenge that requires a European response’: EU’s Michel
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that even though Poland and Hungary had voiced their disagreement with EU migration policy, this did not necessarily mean that any final deal on the matter would be blocked, the Reuters news agency reported.
European Council head Charles Michel tweeted after the summit that migration „is a European challenge that requires a European response.”
A day earlier, Morawiecki and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda reiterated their opposition to proposed new EU migration rules and vowed to communicate their criticism to top European politicians at international meetings this week.
In a joint statement to the media on Thursday, the two leaders said they opposed any plans by the European Union for „mandatory relocation of migrants” across the bloc.
On Wednesday, EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels reached an agreement on the final component of a common EU migration and asylum policy despite opposition from Poland and Hungary, according to media reports.
Poland and Hungary voted against the measure, while Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria abstained, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Wednesday’s deal paves the way for establishing common rules to manage an unexpected mass arrival of asylum seekers, a crucial element of the EU’s migration reform, the Euronews website reported.
Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament held a debate on “the need for a speedy adoption of the asylum and migration package,” according to a report by the PAP news agency.
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Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters
