2024-10-15 21:49 update: 2024-10-15, 21:51
Photo PAP/Marcin Obara
The Polish cabinet has adopted a migration strategy which includes a temporary suspension of access to asylum, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced.
"'Take back control. Ensure security' - the migration strategy has been adopted," Tusk wrote on the X platform on Tuesday afternoon. "A difficult but much needed and awaited decision," he added.
The government debated the draft motion to adopt the strategy since 12 noon on Tuesday.
Earlier on Saturday, Tusk presented some key points of the strategy while at the convention of his party, the Civic Coalition (KO), the main grouping in the Polish government. They included the controversial plan to temporarily suspend the right to seek asylum in Poland. Tusk said that the government would not respect or implement European ideas that undermine Poland's security, such as the EU migration pact.
The decision prompted an outcry from human rights organisations, who deemed it "unacceptable" and in violation of the Polish constitution and international treaties.
According to Szymon Holownia, the speaker of Sejm, lower house of Polish parliament, the strategy had not been consulted with the two junior coalition partners.
Anitta Hipper, the spokesperson for the European Commission, said earlier this week that it was important and necessary for the EU to protect its external borders, in particular with Russia and Belarus. She pointed out that both countries exerted strong pressure on the EU's external borders, threatening the security of its member states and the whole EU. She added that EU member countries must fulfil their international and European obligations, including the provision of access to application for asylum.
The Prime Minister's Office elaborated on the strategy document in an official announcement published on its internet page on Tuesday.
The document calls for a reform of asylum policies at both EU and international levels. It suggests that countries facing destabilization due to migration could temporarily suspend asylum applications in specific regions. This measure, it argues, should be subject to "parliamentary oversight and include protections for vulnerable groups."
The strategy document contains a transparent visa policy based on a selective approach to migration, which means careful regulation of the conditions for entry to and residence in Poland, also for business or educational purposes.
Specific criteria will be used to grant access to the Polish labour market, so that migrants fill the gaps in shortage professions, without undermining the stability of employment in Poland.
The document also outlines the rules of access to Poland's higher education system which may not be used as an easy way to legally enter and reside in Poland. At the same time, it provides universities with a transparent process of the so-called internationalisation which includes recruitment of foreign students. (PAP)
wpb/mf
