Tuesday

26th Sep 2023

Polish PM joins Merkel in welcoming migrants

  • Kopacz said Poland might also need EU solidarity if more refugees come from Ukraine (Photo: premier.gov.pl)

Polish PM Ewa Kopacz has said she'll take in more refugees under the EU relocation scheme, despite fierce opposition ahead of elections.

She told MPs at a parliament debate on Wednesday (16 September): "Poland has a chance to set an example in Europe".

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-migrant speech in the Bundestag on 30 August, she said: "Can't a country of 40 million people [Poland] afford a gesture of solidarity?".

"We live today in a better part of the world, to which people want to come, and not flee from. I appeal to those who describe themselves as guardians of human life: Show solidarity with those who are losing their lives in the Mediterranean".

She added that EU solidarity is a two-way street.

"Today, our partners in Europe expect solidarity from us. To turn our back on people who need help in this great European family means that, morally and psychologically, we are taking leave of this community", she said.

"We Poles, who could, at any moment, find ourselves in a difficult situation due to the dynamic events in ... east Ukraine, would expect solidairty and help for Poland".

She didn't say how many people Poland would take out of the European Commission plan to redistribute 160,000 refugees.

She also noted Poland has secure borders and will deport economic migrants.

But her speech marks a U-turn in policy, after her EU affairs minister, Rafal Trzaskowski, just two days ago in Brussels, said that Merkel, by welcoming an "uncontrolled wave [of people]", caused the "drastic" problems in Austria and Hungary.

It marks Poland's split from other Visegrad states - the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia - who had banded together against the Commission.

It also marks a sharp difference from Poland’s main opposition party, the right-wing Law and Justice, ahead of elections on 25 October.

Sharia and IS

For his part, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Law and Justice leader, told MPs that if Poland takes in too many people “we will no longer be masters in our own country”.

"It might be like Sweden, where there are 54 districts, where sharia [Islamic law] has become obligatory", he claimed.

He said Middle East migrants are potential terrorists, also claiming that Greece intercepted a cache of weapons among its refugees and that “everything points to the fact they came from Islamic State”.

He accused the PM of violating the Polish constitution.

“Does the goverment have the right, acting under external [EU] pressure, without the accord of the nation, to take decisions, which, in all probability, will have a negative effect on our daily lives … and, ultimately, on our security?”, he noted.

True face

Kopacz hit back, saying Law and Justice has “shown its true face five weeks before the elections - the face of a xenophobic, anti-European party, which always seeks discord”.

“It’s a first step toward taking Poland out of the EU and Polish people should know this”.

The Swedish embassy in Poland also took Kaczynski to task.

“Sweden operates under Swedish law”, it said on Twitter.

Law and Justice ahead

According to the latest poll, by Ipsos for Polish public TV on 13 September, Law and Justice is ahead on 35 points compared to 24 for Kopacz’s centre-right Civic Platform.

Law and Justice's candidate, Andrzej Duda, in May already unseated the Civic Platform’s Bronislaw Komorowski in a presidential vote.

Speaking on 8 September, Duda also attacked the Commission migrant scheme on grounds of Polish sovereignty.

“I won’t agree to a dictate of the strong”, he said.

“I won’t back a Europe where the economic advantage of the size of a population will be a reason to force solutions on other countries regardless of their national interests”.

Germany takes political lead on migration crisis

Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel has said the EU must act to address the migration crisis, or Europe's "close association with the universal rights of citizens will be destroyed".

Agenda

Migration summit, quotas This WEEK

EU leaders, at a snap summit next week, will hold a broad debate on how to handle the unfolding refugee crisis.

Opinion

Orbán's 'revenge law' is an Orwellian crackdown on education

On Tuesday, the Hungarian parliament passed a troubling piece of legislation known by its critics as the 'revenge law', which aims to punish and intimidate teachers who dare to defy Viktor Orbán's regime. This law is a brutally oppressive tool.

Latest News

  1. EU trade chief in Beijing warns China of only 'two paths' forward
  2. Why should taxpayers pay for private fishing fleets in third countries?
  3. Women at risk from shoddy EU laws on domestic workers
  4. EU poised to agree on weakened emission rules
  5. China trade tension and migration deal This WEEK
  6. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  7. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  8. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us