Visa affair used by Germany for political pressure on Poland says official
"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been using a visa affair for political pressure on our government and demands explanations from Poland," the government commissioner for information space security wrote on X on Sunday.
"This can only be seen as pressure on Poland during an election campaign," Stanisław Żaryn said, referring to a demand from Scholz who, during an SPD rally in Nuremberg on Saturday, called on the Polish government to clarify allegations about a cash-for-visa deal for migrants.
Having called for more control over illegal migration, the German chancellor was quoted by the DPA agency as saying that "the visa scandal that is taking place in Poland needs to be clarified."
"And what is more interesting, it is Germany which has for years had problems with visas," Żaryn wrote, adding that scandals concerning the purchase of visas used to break out in Germany every few years. "Maybe it is worth focusing on this problem," he said.
According to Żaryn, the irregularities connected with the visa issuance in Poland were of "incidental" nature and were being investigated by special services.
"The Central Anti-corruption Bureau has already detained seven people," Żaryn said.
The incumbent Polish government is currently battling a slew of allegations that thousands of visas were issued by Polish consulates in return for bribes.
The allegations, first made in the press, have been seized upon by the opposition, which has used them to accuse a government that has made being tough on immigration a core policy of having double standards.
Last week, the National Prosecutor's Office said that the investigation into the scandal concerned 268 granted applications for accelerated issuance, a number fiercely disputed by opposition parties, who claim the scandal could have concerned up to 300,000 applications.
