Duda must urgently sign halt on granting asylum into law, say state officials
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, defence minister and the speaker of the Sejm, lower house, have called on President Andrzej Duda to urgently sign into law the bill on suspending the right to claim asylum in Poland.
Tusk made the statement at a press conference ahead of his departure to Brussels on Thursday. "Today I would like to make a very passionate appeal to the president to sign the bill as soon as possible, preferably today, which will allow us to temporarily suspend the right to apply for asylum," he said.
Tusk added that this is a key tool in protecting the Polish border. "There is already a regulation in place and as soon as the president's signature appears under the bill, the regulation will be introduced and come into force at the next cabinet meeting on Tuesday."
According to him, the pressure on the border with Belarus organised by Aleksandr Lukashenko is "increasing again," which could lead to an escalation in Poland’s migration crisis in the region that started in 2021.
Later that same day, Sejm Speaker Szymon Holownia said that the bill on restricting the right to claim asylum in Poland was accepted by the Sejm, lower house, to send a signal to Russia and Belarus that Poland took the security of its borders seriously.
The two countries have aided irregular migration through their borders with Poland, which Poland views as an element of their 'hybrid war' waged against the West.
Holownia said that the bill was meant to "act in a situation... where the hybrid war would escalate on the Russian or Belarussian side (of the border - PAP)." "It is a pre-emptive move," he added.
He expressed his expectation of President Andrzej Duda to sign the bill into law, hoping that "the President will not have any doubts over Poland's security" and that he would not treat the legislation "as an element of a (political - PAP) game."
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who accompanied Holownia at the conference, added that the president's signature was urgently needed. "The pressure on the border has grown over the past week," he said. "The law is needed as a clear signal that the territory of the Republic of Poland is protected."
Kosiniak-Kamysz added that he had faith in Duda to make the right decision and sign the bill into law in the coming hours.
The bill provides for time- and geographically restricted suspension of the right to claim asylum in Poland. The halt can be implemented by the government at the request of the interior minister for the maximum of 60 days, with the possibility of its extension for a limited time.(PAP)
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