Poland’s deputy internal affairs minister has told the country’s parliament there was no way Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government would introduce border controls in retaliation for Germany’s checks on the Polish border and the policy of returning illegal migrants to Poland.
Maciej Duszczyk on March 19 briefed the Internal Affairs parliamentary committee on developments with regard to the European Union’s Migration Pact and the deportation of migrants to Poland from Germany.
“We will not introduce border controls with Germany. There is no need for such measures. I don’t care what Germany is doing in border-town Eisenhüttenstadt,” the minister said.
Duszczyk was referring to the police migration centre in the town that held migrants in Germany who had arrived from Poland before being taken back across the border.
He acknowledged that a deportation centre was recently established in Eisenhüttenstadt but said there would be no response from the Polish government.
“What Germany is doing there does not concern me. Whatever they do, they can do it. We follow our own procedures,” he told parliamentarians.
Duszczyk said Poland accepted migrants under the Dublin Regulation agreement and claimed that “this is 100 per cent safe”.
The agreement is an EU law that determines which EU country was responsible for processing an asylum application when it was made in more than one EU country.
Duszczyk said if an individual arriving in Poland was assessed as being free of being a security risk, they were sent to an open facility; if they were assessed as being a potential risk they were placed in a closed centre. Those who were classified as a threat were prepared for deportation.
Duszczyk admitted, though: “We have problems with deportations.”
He made it clear that, while opposing the German reintroduction of border controls, Poland was not going to reciprocate because it did not want to impact negatively its border markets.
“Why aren’t we introducing border controls? There is no technical, intelligence, or migration-related need to do so. We would also be depriving 15,000 people who work at border markets of their jobs,” he said.
The minister was clear about Poland’s position on the Migration Pact.
“The Migration Pact was accepted on December 20, 2023, just a week after the new government came into office. The pact is binding. That is a self-evident fact,” Duszczyk said
He argued that the previous Conservative (PiS) government had the opportunity to block discussion on the pact but had failed to do so. Therefore, he said, the government had to take measures regarding the pact operating in Poland.
“Nothing from the pact will be ratified if it poses a threat to Poland. The pact, in its current form, will not come into force,” he insisted.
“It has already been amended. The European Commission has prepared new regulations on the policy of returning migrants,” he claimed, expressing hope for further changes that would be of benefit to his country.
The PiS and the right wing Confederation Party have accused the government of being duplicitous about the pact, talking tough at home while facilitating its progress within the EU.
The last PiS government refused to implement the previous EU relocation of illegal migrants and refugees policy and have pointed to the fact that this EU policy was scrapped during its term.
It added that together with Hungary it was ready to block the new migration pact by attempting to bring the issue to the European Council, where the principle of unanimity rather than qualified majority applied.
