'Green Border' film paves way for migrant relocation says Kaczyński
Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, has argued that "The Green Border", a film by Agnieszka Holland indicates a plan for Poland giving consent to migrant relocation and demolishing the fence on border with Belarus.
The film follows a fictional group of refugees trying to get into Poland from Belarus. Once across the frontier, however, they are sent back by Polish Border Guards, apparently indifferent to their plight.
Green Border, now opening in Poland, premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival to great critical acclaim and garnered the Jury Prize for Holland.
Commenting on the film on Friday, Kaczyński said that it is "a preparation for tearing down the fence and agreeing to relocation."
Poland has strongly opposed the EU's most recent migrant relocation plans, under with EU members will have to accept an initial quota of 30,000 migrants from countries that bear the brunt of migration from the Middle East and Africa, such as Greece and Italy, or pay about EUR 22,000 per non-admitted migrant.
"This is how it should be perceived at the political level," the party leader said of the film.
Kaczyński said that the movie was financed "to a large extent by those who today constitute the basis of the main opposition force, because both Warsaw and Masovia (central region of Poland that includes Warsaw - PAP) are ruled by PSL (the agrarian Polish People's Party - PAP), and on the other hand, by various external institutions, also related to the European Commission."
In the aftermath of the 2021 migrant crisis, which saw hundreds of migrants trying to get into Poland from Belarus, the Polish government decided to erect a fence fitted with electronic surveillance equipment along most of its border with Belarus.
The Polish government accused the Belarusian authorities of orchestrating the crisis in order to destabilise both Poland and the EU.
The government has made migration a key point in its campaign for October's general election, and has included two questions on the topic in a referendum it intends to hold on the same day as the election.
