It would be worth holding a referendum on the proposed mandatory migrant quota scheme, Jacek Karnowski wrote in his op-ed published on the Polish wPolityce news portal. The site's editor-in-chief said this would be crucial because the consequences of the decision would be felt by generations to come, and they would determine how Poland would look in ten, twenty or even fifty years' time.
Mr Karnowski also underlined that the mandatory quota was not just about 2,000 immigrants, but about opening up a channel through which up to 200,000 or even 2 million illegal migrants could be resettled in Poland in the future.
According to the publicist, the plebiscite could take place as early as during this year's parliamentary elections.
Last Thursday, the EU's interior ministers voted in favor of a new migration pact, under which member states would have to take in a certain number of asylum seekers or face fines from Brussels. The penalty is determined at €20,000 (around 8 million forints) per migrant. The package will also go before the European Parliament and the Council of EU leaders for a vote.
Brussels is abusing its power. They want to transfer migrants into Hungary forcibly. This is unacceptable! They want to turn Hungary into an immigrant country by force,
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said.
The mandatory migrant quota has provoked a stunning resistance from the European right.
This pact of forced resettlement reveals the EU's moral bankruptcy and the fiasco of its social model. It also shows that Germany treats people as commodities, as labor force, and uses the pact as a tool to regulate its own labor market.
writes Dariusz Matuszak, a prominent Polish publicist, in his opinion piece.
For years, Western Europe has been trying to solve its labor shortages by encouraging immigration from the Middle East and Africa, and not by pursuing effective family policies. We must loudly state, repeatedly that we reject the mandatory quotas! We reject the encouragement of migration into Europe. We do not want to be part of this, and we consider it a big mistake.
the Party of the Hungarian Community (MKP) in Slovakia underlined in its press release.
Hannes Amesbauer, the security spokesman of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) said Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had "stabbed Austrians in the back" when he refused to say no to the migrant quota plan.
Cover photo: Illegal migrants arriving at the port of Arrecife on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, on 5 June 2023 (Photo: MTI/EPA-EFE/Adriel Perdomo)
