Tensions re migrant quotas still running high in Europe + video

The Polish parliament looks set to adopt a draft resolution that could give the government power to exercise its veto and reject a proposal on migrant quotas at the next EU summit. Meanwhile an online petition launched in Austria seeks to decline the forced relocations scheme as and the German right wing continues to fume over the proposal.

PiS set to adopt a strong parliamentary mandate

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has drafted a resolution to provide the government with a strong mandate to reject the forced quota-based relocation of migrants in Brussels.

A decision to introduce a new asylum system was reached at the meeting of the EU's interior ministers last week. According to the plan, member states can either take in a certain number of migrants, or pay at least €20,000 per migrant into EU coffers. Party spokesman Rafal Bochenek recalled that the Polish parliament had already passed some "rejecting" resolutions similar to this one, for example in 2016, adding that these have only given a mandate to conduct EU-level negotiations on these issues.

We now want to give the Polish government a strong mandate to use a strong veto in the European Council,

- a spokesperson of the ruling party said. In the draft resolution, Law and Justice politicians write that "the Sejm of the Republic of Poland strongly opposes the attempt to introduce at EU level mechanisms for the forced resettlement of illegal economic migrants."

Petition against mass migration

Meanwhile, the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) is launching an online petition dubbed "Fortress Austria"against illegal mass immigration. Austria is a sovereign state, a member of the European Union and also a Schengen country. According to the EU's concept, this means that we'll give up control of our own borders if the EU fulfills its obligation to protect the bloc's external borders, but this isn't how it works. In reality, it means that we must travel to Brussels to beg to be allowed to gain repeated control over our borders, but only in certain places and for a limited period of time," FPO President Herbert Kickl said, criticizing the functioning of the Schengen Area, as well as Brussels' leadership.

He added that Austria had been hit twice in the past eight years by major migratory waves, both of which had caused huge damage across the country.

"Since 2015, the EU has missed every opportunity to protect European citizens from the import of terror and social tensions," said Harald Vilimsky, head of the FPO's European delegation. He believes that the only hope is that next year's EU elections can ignite a fundamental turnaround, paving the way for a new referendum which can reverse the current misguided policies. The politician thinks help should be provided in the migrants' home countries to prevent them from leaving in the first place.

Every opportunity was missed

There is also sharp criticism from Germany almost every day. According to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the adopted plan is highly ineffective in its details.

Under pressure from the German government, unaccompanied minors can simply cross the bloc's external border without stopping, including fast-track procedures. The same applies, for example, to whole families arriving from Syria. The problem that 80 percent of those arriving in Germany have previously been allowed to cross the EU without being registered isn't addressed either,

- said Gottfried Curio, the home affairs spokesman in AfD's parliamentary group. The politician stressed that secondary migration to Germany will continue after the introduction of the EU's distribution scheme so long as his country lacks either the willpower, or the necessary structures to establish an effective, automatic rejection and deportation scheme. He added that the Brusselites are upholding false principles, such as the idea that someone can be a refugee on entry to the EU even if they have already passed through many safe third countries. They have also missed the opportunity to counterbalance certain countries drastic overcrowding in a tangible manner, especially in Germany, Gottfried Curio said.

Cover photo: Illegal migrants arrive by special train from Freilassing on the German side of the Austria-Germany border to Schonefeld on 18 September 2015 (Photo: MTI/EPA/Bernd Settnik)