On Tuesday 3 October in Strasbourg, MEPs criticised the actions of the Polish government, which has “endangered” the security of the Schengen area by selling suspicious visas in certain consular offices and has cast doubt “over the Polish people”, said Róża Thun (Renew Europe).
MEPs examined the scandal of thousands of visas allegedly sold for bribes by the Polish authorities. The Commission had asked Warsaw to provide an explanation by 3 October (see EUROPE 13256/8).
For EPP member Jeroen Lenaers (Dutch), the Polish government has “put everyone’s safety at risk”. There will be “identity checks because of the Polish government”, he added, referring to countries such as Germany, which has announced tighter controls at its borders with Poland.
Calling on the government to get to the bottom of the matter, the EPP member also regretted that this was not an “isolated case”, but “symptomatic of the wider dismantling of the rule of law in Poland”. For Mr Lenaers, the PiS government has also shown a real “contempt for security and our common borders”.
Greens/EFA MEP Erik Marquardt (German) went in the same direction, asking what the Polish government can offer in terms of clarification when it is “systematically” destroying the rule of law and there is therefore no longer any rule of law.
“We’re selling visas like salads”, criticized Poland’s Robert Biedroń (S&D), denouncing the “hypocrisy of the PiS” at a time when the Polish government is taking a hard line on European migration policy.
However, not all the elected representatives were happy with the debate, particularly as regards the timetable. Irish The Left MEP Clare Daly, who is however “not a supporter” of the Polish government, regretted that the debate was taking place before the legislative elections on 15 October, and would have preferred the European Parliament to consider the issue after the elections so as not to be suspected of interference.
Hungary’s Kinga Gál (Non-attached Member) also criticised the timing of the debate.
For his part, Commission Vice-President Margarítis Schinás confirmed that, if the “extremely worrying” facts reported in the Polish media were true, they would constitute a “serious breach” of the Schengen Borders Code.
The Commission sent 11 questions to Warsaw in mid-September and is in contact with the Polish government to obtain full answers to its questions, in particular on the number and type of visas involved in the corruption. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)