Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is relying on a stricter migration policy. The right to asylum should temporarily disappear. This could lead to trouble with the EU Commission.
Poland’s government wants to discuss the temporary suspension of the right to asylum this Tuesday. A strategy for controlling irregular migration is to be presented at a cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Saturday at a party conference of his liberal-conservative citizens’ coalition that his country wanted to at least temporarily suspend the right to asylum. If this happens, Warsaw will have to fear headwinds from the EU Commission. In Germany, on the other hand, the Union faction showed understanding for the step.
“The state must regain 100 percent control over who comes and enters Poland,” Tusk said at the party conference. He will demand recognition of this decision in Europe. However, he did not give any details.
Tusk: Don’t negotiate border security
A spokeswoman for the EU Commission in Brussels pointed out that EU states are obliged by common rules to offer those seeking protection access to asylum procedures. Regarding Tusk’s specific announcement, the spokeswoman said that the Commission was in contact with the Polish authorities about it. It’s also about what exactly the government plans to do.
On Monday, Tusk upped the ante again. “It is our right and our duty to protect the Polish and European borders. We will not negotiate their security. With anyone,” he wrote on X.
Poland and the EU accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants from crisis regions to Poland’s eastern border in an organized manner. This is also an external border of the EU.
Criticism and understanding in Germany
In Germany, Tusk’s announcement was met with mixed reactions. The Union faction’s domestic policy spokesman, Alexander Throm, showed understanding. “One EU country after another is pulling the emergency brake on asylum policy – now Poland too,” said the CDU politician. The government in Warsaw has no other choice as long as Russian President Putin and his accomplices target irregular migration to Poland. Throm suspects that Poland’s decision is also a reaction to the debate initiated by his group about comprehensive rejections at the German borders.
Criticism, however, came from Pro Asyl. Solo actions like what Tusk has now announced are causing chaos and increasingly endangering European unity, said the organization’s refugee policy spokesman, Tareq Alaouws. He criticized that it was a slap in the face for the democratic forces in Poland that the announcement that they wanted to illegally close access to the rule of law and fair asylum procedures came from a head of government who had taken office after eight years of PiS government Rebuilding the rule of law.
Source: Stern
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