Poland to present “secure borders plan” in Brussels and seek to veto EU migration pact

Poland’s prime minister has set out a five-point “secure borders plan” that he will propose at an EU summit in Brussels today. He also claimed that Poland would veto a planned new EU migrant relocation system, despite it already having been approved by member states.

“[Poland is] once again a frontline country, a country that understands the threats facing Europe,” said Morawiecki this morning before leaving Warsaw. “That is why I will propose a precise plan at the European Council.”

“This plan is clear. ‘No’ to the forced relocation of immigrants. ‘No’ to the violation of the right of veto by individual states and ‘no’ to the violation of the principle of freedom, of the principle of decision-making by states alone. ‘No’ to Brussels imposing penalties on member states.”

Earlier this month, EU member states approved a new migration pact, which would see countries either have to receive a certain number of migrants or make a “solidarity” payment for each one they refuse. Poland and Hungary were the only countries to vote against the proposal.

The plan is now due to be discussed further by the European Commission and European Parliament. In neither forum do member states have veto powers, and at today’s European Council meeting member states will be merely informed of the progress in implementing the conclusions on migration that were recently approved.

But Morawiecki nevertheless pledged today that Poland “will veto the forced relocation mechanism. A Europe of secure borders is also a Europe without forced relocation.”

Last week, however, the EU’s Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said that she found Poland’s criticism of the plan “incomprehensible”.

She noted that no countries will be forced to take in migrants and also that Poland, because it is hosting over a million Ukrainian refugees, would be exempted from making payments. Indeed, she claimed that the country could even benefit from the proposed system.

Speaking in Warsaw today, Morawiecki outlined an alternative five-point plan Poland would propose to the EU for safeguarding its borders.

It would include investment “in the effective surveillance of all external EU borders” and reform of Frontex, the EU’s border agency, so that “it can effectively combat people smugglers”.

Poland would also propose to increase funding for countries neighbouring the EU – to help “fight the causes, not the effects” of migration – as well as to reduce social benefits for people from outside the EU and to “no longer tolerate the cooperation of NGOs with people smugglers”.

Morawiecki accused some politicians of seeking to deprive “member states…of the ability to protect their citizens”, adding that they are “turning a blind eye to the threat that is emerging at the borders and on the streets of Europe”.

“Poland is clear: opening borders, failing to protect them effectively, putting Europeans at risk, is a strategic mistake, a mistake that threatens the survival of the European Union,” the prime minister said.

Europe, he argued, is not only a continent but “above all it is a way of life…Anyone can become a European, regardless of their origin or skin colour, provided that they respect European values, reject violence and respect our civilisation”.

Earlier this month, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, passed a resolution condemning the migration pact. During the debate, ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński announced that a national referendum would be held to give Poles a say on the EU plan.

Three polls taken since then show that a large majority of Poles do not support the migration pact, with the proportion of the population against the proposal ranging from 67% (in a poll by United Surveys for RMF FM and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna) to 76% (in a survey by Social Changes for wPolityce).

However, some opposition figures and experts have accused PiS of deliberately misrepresenting the plan in order to stir up anti-migrant and anti-EU sentiment ahead of this year’s elections.

Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.