2024-10-17 21:31 update: 2024-10-22, 14:30
Fot. PAP/Marcin Obara
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after talks with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani that both countries want the external borders of the Schengen area to be kept "under control."
On Thursday, Sikorski started a two-day visit to Rome and met with Italy's deputy prime minister and foreign minister in Rome.
Following the meeting, he told a joint press conference with Tajani that the two countries want to strengthen their relations in key areas.
"Our societies are demanding the restoration of border controls," Sikorski said.
He added that the Polish government migration strategy announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk which includes temporary suspension of access to asylum "emphasises shared interests" of Poland and Italy.
"We stand in solidarity with Italy, with the problem that Italy has in the south," Sikorski said referring to the huge numbers of refugees and migrants attempting to reach Italy via the Mediterranean Sea route.
He argued that though in the case of Poland migration is organised by states hostile to Europe and to Poland, "the problem is the same... and both Poland and Italy want the external borders of the Schengen area to be under control".
"Consulates, border guards, visas must mean something and as a group of sovereign states we have the right to decide who enters our countries and who does not," Sikorski said. (PAP)
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