The head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, announced on Saturday October 12 that he wanted to partially suspend the right to asylum for migrants who enter his country illegally and that he would ask the EU to endorse this measure.
During a speech during a rally of his movement, Civic Coalition, he assured that Poland would fight “without thanks” against illegal immigration. “I say out loud today that among the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum”he said, specifying that he wanted to ask Europe to ” recognize “ this decision.
The Prime Minister, who was to present his migration strategy on Saturday, postponed this announcement for Tuesday, during a meeting of his government. “We know very well how [le dirigeant biélorusse, Alexandre] Lukashenko, [Vladimir] Putin, human smugglers and traffickers use it [le droit d’asile]. The way in which this right of asylum is used goes exactly against the essence of the right to asylum. »
“We are not going to respect or apply any European idea which (…) violates our security, and I am thinking here of the migration pact and the immigration context”hammered Mr. Tusk.
Russia and Belarus singled out
Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union, accuses Moscow and Minsk of organizing this influx of migrants as part of an attack “hybrid” intended to destabilize the region and the entire European Union, an accusation rejected by the Belarusian regime.
In May, Poland announced it would spend more than 2.3 billion euros to strengthen its border with Belarus, which marks the eastern edge of the European Union. On Wednesday, Warsaw and Prague together called for a toughening of European migration policy, advocating a “stricter and different version of the immigration pact” of the EU which is only due to come into force in 2026.
Home to large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, and experiencing migratory pressure, Warsaw and Prague are calling for better protection of the EU's external borders, at the same time criticizing the restoration of internal borders as Germany has done. . Poland and the Czech Republic had jointly announced that they would request “a very serious, political debate on migration” in Brussels, from the next meeting of the European Council in mid-October.
Source: Lemonde