Poland reiterates opposition to EU new migration and asylum rules
Warsaw once again opposed the provisions of the migration and asylum pact as agreed by the European Council, at a Thursday meeting of EU interior ministers in Logrono in Spain, PAP was told.
Poland and Hungary were the only countries to vote against a migration deal, approved by EU member states in early June, which envisages "compulsory solidarity." The deal would see member countries pay about EUR 20,000 for every migrant they refuse to admit.
Although under the pact "no Member State will ever be obliged to carry out relocations," a minimum annual quota of relocations from countries where most migrants enter the EU to other countries across the bloc was set at 30,000.
On Thursday, Andrzej Sadoś, Poland's Ambassador to the EU, who attended the meeting in Logrono, said Poland spoke out against the provisions of the Crisis Management Regulation.
He said that the combination of Article 7 and Article 8 of the regulation "mean de facto and de jure participation in forced relocation."
Sadoś told the meeting that the regulation does not provide for the possibility of suspending the registration of asylum applications in the event of a hybrid attack and a threat to security and public order.
At the meeting, Poland also called on the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council to make efforts to reach a consensus in further work on the reform of migration and asylum policy in accordance with the conclusions of the European Council of December 2016, June 2018 and June 2019, in particular on the voluntary choice of measures to support the country under migratory pressure, including relocation.
