The head of the Polish Government, Donald Tusk, announced on Saturday, October 12, that he wanted to partially suspend the right to asylum of immigrants who enter his country illegally and that he would ask the EU to endorse this measure.
During a speech during a rally of his Civic Coalition movement, he assured that Poland would fight “no thanks” against illegal immigration. “I say out loud today that among the elements of the immigration 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 due to present his immigration strategy on Saturday, postponed this announcement until Tuesday, during a meeting of his Government. “We know very well how (the right to asylum) is used by (Belarusian leader Alexander) Lukashenko, (Vladimir) Putin, human traffickers and smugglers. “The way this right of asylum is used goes exactly against the essence of the right of asylum.”.
“We are not going to respect or apply any European idea that (…) threatens our security, and I am thinking here of the migration pact and the migration context”Mr. Tusk insisted.
Russia and Belarus, highlighted
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” It sought 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 to strengthen its border with Belarus, which marks the eastern boundary of the European Union. On Wednesday, Warsaw and Prague together called for a tightening of European migration policy, advocating for a “Stricter and different version of the immigration pact” of the EU, which will not come into force until 2026.
Warsaw and Prague, home to large numbers of Ukrainian refugees and experiencing migratory pressure, call for better protection of the EU’s external borders, while 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, starting with the next European Council meeting in mid-October.
