Another day, another spat between Warsaw and Brussels. This time, Poland has declined to participate in the European Union’s latest plan to relocate migrants and asylum seekers within the bloc, with countries who refuse being expected to pay €20,000 per refugee. Hungary has also voted against the pact, while Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria have quietly abstained.
On 15 June, the Polish parliament (the Sejm) went further and passed a resolution opposing the plan, with the ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) announcing a national referendum on the matter. The referendum will take place on the same day as the general election in either October or November this year.
‘We do not agree that the Polish state should bear the costs of the bad decisions of another EU member’
‘The Sejm of the Republic of Poland,’ the resolution reads, ‘expresses its strong opposition to the attempt to introduce mechanisms for the forced relocation of illegal economic migrants at the European Union level… We do not agree that the Polish state should bear the social and financial costs of the bad decisions of another European Union member state.
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