EC: Poland can be exempted from relocation of migrants for many years

The EU flag in front of the building of the European institutions illustrates the issues of migration policy (A symbolic image - generated by AI)Upday Stock Images

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that six European Union countries could apply for a full or partial exemption from the relocation of migrants for the coming year. This applies to Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia and Austria, which face severe migration pressures under the EU asylum and migration pact.

Maciej Duszczyk, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Administration, called it “an tremendous success of the Polish government” on platform X. He stressed that "the 3 solidarity criteria in the migration pact included both the presence of Ukrainian war refugees and the situation on the border with Belarus". He added: «This in practice means that Poland is exempt from solidarity for many, many years».

Commissioner explains the mechanism

Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Migration, stressed the flexibility of the strategy during the Tuesday press conference in Brussels. «First of all, erstwhile it comes to Poland, it must be made clear: solidarity is flexible. associate States may besides choice alternate measures for relocation. This means that relocation is not binding» - he explained.

The Commissioner pointed out the circumstantial reason for this decision: «This is due to the fact that Poland, as I mentioned earlier, has adopted a large number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine. Thanks to our decision today, Poland can ask the Council (EU) for a full or partial exclusion from the solidarity pool and the Council will take a decision on it».

The countries afraid must submit proposals to the Council of the European Union, which shall decide on the exemptions by qualified majority. Countries that do not benefit from the exemption can choose alternate forms of solidarity - financial contributions or operational support alternatively of direct relocation.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced specified a improvement in October. «I told you there would be no relocation of migrants in Poland and there would be no relocation of migrants! Done» - stated then. Home Minister Marcin Kierwiński confirmed in Luxembourg that «the decisions on the migration pact will benefit Poland».

Note: This article was created utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI).