Poland’s stance on the so-called migration pact was described as aligning with the direction Poland had preferred, according to Jan Grabiec, head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery. He explained that Poland inherited additional obligations along its eastern border due to ongoing circumstances and related security concerns.
On Wednesday, the Spanish presidency of the EU Council announced that representatives from EU member states, the European Parliament, and the European Commission had agreed on the main political elements of the asylum and migration pact.
The EU is delivering on its pledge to improve the asylum and migration system, noted Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez, the Spanish Minister of the Interior. Reporters pressed him about Poland’s position within the pact, and Grabiec responded by reiterating the government’s view that border security must be strengthened and that the EU should show solidarity with countries facing high migratory pressure on their external borders. He stressed that it would be counterproductive to impose additional obligations on Poland.
According to Grabiec, EU authorities support the aim of keeping the EU’s external borders tight and assisting those states that shoulder the primary responsibility for border protection. He cautioned that a final form of the arrangements had not yet been decided and that a shared approach among EU member states could carve out a balanced way to safeguard borders while distributing responsibilities across the Union. He asserted that the conclusions were consistent with Poland’s expectations for greater unity and accountability within the EU’s asylum framework.
When questioned about whether the conclusions included mechanisms that might exclude Poland from certain provisions because of its Ukrainian refugee admissions, Grabiec noted that such considerations had already appeared in the conclusions. He added that once final agreements and documents are available, Poland’s particular situation would be taken into account, while highlighting that the border situation across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia was widely understood within the EU, and solidarity from the Union was anticipated.
Control of illegal migrants
The five EU legal acts, provisional amendments adopted on 20 December, address the handling of irregular migrants after entry into the EU. They cover the collection of biometric data, the procedures for asylum applications, the determination of which member state is responsible for processing those applications, and the overall framework for cooperation and solidarity among member states. They also contemplate responses to crisis scenarios.
Under the anticipated changes, member states will choose between accepting refugees and contributing financially to the EU budget. The proposed control system aims to separate individuals seeking international protection from those who do not, with particular attention given to applicants whose chances of asylum are slim. People believed to pose security risks or whose asylum claims are unlikely to succeed could face border detention and restriction as part of the new regime.
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Source: wPolityce [Citation: wPolityce]