Warsaw does not intend to accept migrants as part of the program for their distribution to the European Union. This was stated by Foreign Minister Vitold Vashchikovsky during his visit to Malta, according to the Polish edition of Rzeczpospolita. According to RT, it is about the reception of mostly Syrian and African migrants who are currently in camps in Italy and Greece.
As an explanation of the irreconcilable position on refugees, the Polish Foreign Minister cited two curious arguments. First, migration must be voluntary. Forced resettlement of migrants reminded Vashchikovsky, through which Poland passed in the XIX century, when its citizens forcibly relocated to Siberia. And, secondly, the EU plan for the distribution of migrants between the EU member states makes us remember the times of the Second World War in Poland. Apparently, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had in mind the fact that in the territory of Poland occupied by the Germans during the war there were working death camps.
In an interview published in Rzeczpospolit, Vashchikovsky stressed that Poland does not intend to translate into reality any EU resettlement program. We do not want Poland to become one big camp in which people would lead life behind a fence, since migration should be voluntary, the diplomat said..
At the same time, he stressed that Poland remains open for "truly humanitarian cases". According to Vashchikovsky, his country will continue to receive refugees, but this does not apply to migrants who generally do not want to come to Poland.
In the European Union, the party of Vashchikovsky's "Right and Justice" is generally considered Eurosceptic, but the minister himself speaks of the need for "Eurorealism". Poland wants to reform the institutions in Brussels "from within", as some of them should be reviewed, the minister said.. In his view, unlike the European Council, the European Commission does not have a democratic legitimacy, and therefore has no legal grounds for monitoring or imposing sanctions on member countries.