The tangible implementation of Poland's asylum suspension policy becomes evident
Individuals who unlawfully traverse the border from Belarus into Poland might potentially face the consequence of not being permitted to request asylum in the future. In a prolonged session, the Polish government endorsed a relevant document, albeit not devoid of opposition within the alliance.
Poland is contemplating a temporary halt to asylum applications at its border with Belarus with a proposed law. Jan Grabiec, the Prime Minister Donald Tusk's chief of staff, shared this information with TVN24. According to Grabiec, "The law proposes: Anybody illegally entering Poland's borders, orchestrated by Belarusian services, as part of hybrid warfare, the Polish border guard is exempt from processing asylum applications from these individuals."
Tusk announced this temporary suspension of asylum in Poland at a recent gathering of his liberal-conservative Civic Coalition. The EU Commission and human rights organizations, both domestically and internationally, have criticized this plan.
Poland, alongside the EU, implicates Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associate, Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, in the organized movement of migrants from crisis regions to the EU's external border, with the objective of exerting pressure on the West. Despite the construction of a fence over 5 meters tall and an electronic surveillance system, migrants persistently endeavor to cross the border illegally on a daily basis. Since the start of the year, the border guard has identified approximately 28,000 such attempts. Poland, home to about 37 million inhabitants, is Germany's eastern neighbor.
Four cabinet ministers voice dissenting viewpoints
The Polish cabinet held a six-hour discussion on a migration policy document. The document suggests, "If there exists a threat to destabilize the country due to the influx of migrants, it should be feasible to temporarily and spatially halt the acceptance of asylum applications."
Following the cabinet meeting, Tusk wrote on the X platform that the government authorized the document in a "tough but critically necessary decision." Nevertheless, there appear to be disagreements among Tusk's coalition alliance partners during the meeting.
The four cabinet ministers representing the left-wing Lewica party expressed a dissenting opinion, as Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski disclosed to the portal Onet.pl. "We endorse strictening procedures for illegal migrants, but we don't wish to incorporate elements like the suspension of asylum rights into the strategy."
The Polish government, in its prolonged session, endorsed a document that suggests the possibility of temporarily and spatially halting the acceptance of asylum applications if there's a threat of destabilization due to migrant influx. However, four cabinet ministers from the left-wing Lewica party voiced their dissenting opinion during this meeting, against the inclusion of suspending asylum rights in the strategy.
The European Council, in response to the situation, might need to discuss and potentially formulate policies regarding the border control and asylum procedures in Poland and the EU as a whole.
