2024-10-16 14:48 update: 2024-10-17, 15:13
Photo PAP/Marcin Obara
The temporary suspension of access to asylum proposed by the government will not tighten control on the border nor reduce illegal migration, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said.
On Tuesday, the government adopted Poland's migration strategy, which allows for a temporary territorial suspension of the right to seek asylum. Prime Minister Donald Tusk emphasised that he would take a tough stance on any attempts at introducing EU regulations that would threaten the security of Poland.
While addressing the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, on Wednesday's general election anniversary, Duda claimed that the proposed measure "will not serve to seal our border and reduce illegal migration." In turn, it will prevent, among other refugees, representatives of the Belarusian opposition from taking shelter in Poland.
"(Russian President Vladimir - PAP) Putin and (Belarusian President Alexander - PAP) Lukashenko are trying to destabilise the situation on our border, in the EU, and your response to this is to deny haven to the people they are putting in prison and persecuting," Duda said. "I think this is some kind of terrible mistake."
The president said that he was surprised by Tusk's decision, and recalled critical opinions of the ruling coalition, then in opposition, to the construction of a barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border by the Law and Justice (PiS) government.
"You were wrong back then and, I'm afraid to say, you are wrong now," he said. Nevertheless, he welcomed the government's decision to proceed with the border security measures implemented by predecessors. "Better late than never," Duda concluded.
Later, Tusk, in his speech, claimed that the planned regulation "will not suspend human rights" because it will not suspend the right to seek asylum.
"We are speaking about rejecting asylum applications (submitted - PAP) by people organised by Lukashenko who illegally cross the border," he said.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the press that the migration strategy includes so-called vulnerable groups, such as mothers with children or the tortured. In the event of a suspension, border guards can accept refugee claims from such persons. (PAP)
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