Poland and Hungary’s opposition to the EU pact on migration prevented the adoption of a joint final statement that would also include this topic at the European summit held in the Spanish city of Granada on Friday, so the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, published a separate statement of his own on the subject migration, and the joint declaration of the summit refers only to the other topics on the agenda, especially EU enlargement.
Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor OrbanPhoto: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
“I am the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. I am responsible for the security of Poland and its citizens. Therefore, as a responsible politician, I officially reject the entire paragraph with the conclusions of the summit on migration”, said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the X social network.
Jestem premierem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. We are responsible for the security of Polski and jej obywateli.
Dlatego jako odpowiedzialny polityk oficialnie ODRZUCAM the whole paragraph konkluzji szczytu zążeniacy migracji.
Polska jest i pozostanie bezpieczna pod rządami @pisorgpl!\uD83D\uDEE1\uD83C\uDDF5\uD83C\uDDF1\uD83D\uDEE1…
— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) October 6, 2023
The European pact on migration and asylum was an important topic on the agenda of the European summit, after the agreement of the Crisis Regulation from the agreement on the revision of the European asylum policy, adopted by a qualified majority by the EU states at the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JAI) held last week, reports the AFP and EFE agencies, quoted by Agerpres.
The agreement, which will be the basis of negotiations with the European Parliament for a final text, tightens the rules regarding the right to asylum, but also includes mandatory refugee quotas for member states, or alternatively a contribution of around 20,000 euros for each rejected migrant.
Poland, which along with Hungary voted against the deal, described the contribution as effectively a fine. The two countries also contest the procedure by which the agreement was adopted, namely the neutralization of the opposition of some member states by appealing to the qualified majority, instead of consensus.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban compared this way of making decisions to “rape”. “If you are legally raped, forced to accept something you don’t want, how can a compromise be possible? It’s impossible,” he explained.
Along with this month’s legislative elections, the Polish government has also called a referendum with four questions, one of which will ask the population to decide on “receiving thousands of illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa under the forced resettlement mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy”.
As for EU enlargement, the other major topic on the agenda of the summit, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, declared at a press conference after the end of the meeting that this process will be carried out on the basis of “merit” and “without shortcuts”.
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