Warsaw: Relocation will only attract new migrants to Europe

"The draft proposal will not resolve the EU's existing migration problems, it'll only complicate the existing system," Poland's foreign minister has said.

Zbigniew Rau lengyel külügyminiszter, az Európai Biztonsági és Együttműködési Szervezet (OSCE) rendezvényén, 2022.02.15-én. (Fotó: TRT World Now / Twitter)

The draft EU legislation on the distribution of migrants, adopted last week by the EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers, violates the principle of voluntary action for both migrants and host countries, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told a press briefing he held with his Swedish counterpart in Warsaw on Monday.

Speaking to the press following his discussions with Tobias Billstrom, Mr Rau referred to the proposal that sets out how migrants will be distributed among EU member states. He said he had indicated to his Swedish counterpart - who also represented the current rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union - that "the approach" adopted last Thursday at a meeting of EU interior ministers was "not right."

The draft proposal will not resolve the EU's migration problems, it'll only complicate the existing system,

Mr Rau opined, adding that the relocation scheme is a solution that will attract new migrants to Europe.

Poland has two principles in mind when it comes to migration: on the one hand, the destination countries must be chosen voluntarily by the migrants fleeing war or economic hardship, and on the other, the principle of voluntary action also applies to the host countries, the Polish foreign minister explained.

He stressed that, in his view, both principles were violated by the new EU plan.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki already indicated on Thursday that

Poland will not accept the draft legislation on the distribution of migrants and will not pay for its refusal to accept migrants.

During his press conference on Monday, PM Morawiecki recalled that the Polish government - together with the Czech Republic and Hungary - had already opposed a previous version of the EU's migrant distribution mechanism, which was construed in connection with the 2015 migration crisis.

On Monday Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller underlined that Poland would not back the EU's new draft proposal at any stage of the legislative process. "The solutions now envisaged will actually encourage every human trafficker (...) to continue with their activities," he said.

He also called on Polish MEPs to vote against the legislation. Following the decision reached by the EU's interior ministers on Thursday, the draft bill will go before the EP.

Cover photo: Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau at an event of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 15 February 2022 (Photo: TRT World Now/Twitter)