Image by Piotr Drabik
Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has told the European Union, which is threatening Poland and other Eastern European countries with sanctions if they do not admit refugees, that no means no, no refugees that is. Szydlo stated today that Poland “cannot accept refugees.”
“A critical attitude towards the mechanism of migrant relocation is becoming increasingly widespread in the European Union,” she claimed, according to a translation by state broadcaster Poland Radio.
“Poland cannot accept refugees,” she declared, reported The Independent.
“This cannot be the responsibility of just a few member states – this must be shared be all,” said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Commissioner for Migration.
The EU is pressing forward with sanctions for Poland and Hungary in particular, which could mean heavy financial penalties. “I call on Poland and Hungary who have not relocated a single person … to start doing so right now,” Mr Avramopoulos told reporters.
“If no action is taken by them before the next report in June, the Commission will not hesitate to make use of its powers under the treaties and to open infringement procedures.”
The Polish interior minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, added his comments. “Claiming that accepting migrants would have “certainly been worse for Poland” than facing EU action, he told state radio that the “security of Poland and of the Poles” was at stake and drew a link to terror attacks in Europe,” wrote The Independent.
