Italian and Polish prime ministers call for closing EU external borders to fight migration
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni agreed on Wednesday to call for a "closure of the EU's external borders" in the face of illegal migration, reports EFE and Agerpres.
Speaking at a joint press conference during a visit to Warsaw by the head of the Italian government, she and the Polish prime minister expressed, according to the latter, "very similar if not identical positions" on issues such as migration, security and support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
"Poland does not agree with illegal migration. Nor do we agree with imposing sanctions for refusing to take (migrants) back," Morawiecki said, referring to the European Commission's plan to relocate migrants within the EU through mandatory quotas or the payment of financial contributions by countries that refuse such relocations.
"Who is in charge in a particular country? It is the European Commission that can impose quotas, sanctions, fees ... or is it a sovereign state that decides within its borders and decides who it accepts and who it does not accept?" the Polish prime minister asked.
A European agreement reached at the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in early June tightens rules on asylum rights in the EU, but also includes mandatory refugee quotas for member states. The agreement means that EU countries will have to take back a certain number of migrants from member states under migratory pressure, such as Italy, or pay a financial contribution of around €20,000 for each migrant turned away.
Poland and Hungary voted against the agreement, and Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia abstained, but the text was adopted by qualified majority and will be the basis for future negotiations with the European Parliament to adopt a European Pact on Asylum and Migration.
Poland proposed a "secure borders plan" as an alternative to the European Commission's plan and said it would not apply the new migrant quotas and would hold a referendum on the issue in the autumn, at the same time as the legislative elections, pointing out that it had already received over a million war refugees from Ukraine.
At the press conference in Warsaw, the head of the Italian government stressed the cooperation and "very close bilateral relations" between Italy and Poland. "In fact, in almost all the issues discussed at the European Council our positions are common," noted Georgia Meloni.
As for military aid to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, she said it would be "extremely dangerous to adopt a passive attitude now" and called for "new and modern weapons" and ammunition to be sent to Kiev "for as long as necessary".
