On Thursday 6 February, a number of members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE), notably from the S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups, raised concerns with the Polish Minister of the Interior, Tomasz Siemoniak, about Warsaw’s management of its border with Belarus and its treatment of migrants instrumentalised by Minsk and Moscow.
As the minister was asked to outline the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council, they also expressed concerns about the potential ‘return centres’ for people refused asylum in the EU, which the Commission may also propose to create in March, when it presents revised legislation on returns.
The Polish minister began by outlining Warsaw’s main priorities, which include security, the fight against illegal immigration and the fight against organised crime.
But he quickly brushed aside the concerns expressed by Cecilia Strada (S&D, Italian) and Birgit Sippel (S&D, German), among others, about the treatment of migrants at the Belarus border and criticisms about the lack of access for humanitarian NGOs.
Asserting that migrants in need of care were taken care of, and even “hospitalised” for those whose health required it, he stressed that the Polish government had authorised humanitarian NGOs to access these buffer zones.
He also rejected criticism from Spain’s Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D), comparing the “hundreds” of people from Belarus with “the thousands arriving in the Canary Islands”.
The minister put the figure at “tens of thousands” of attempts to force their way into Poland from Belarus.
Responding to Birgit Sippel, the minister stressed the need to strengthen the EU’s external borders, including that with Belarus, in order to preserve the Schengen area and avoid “internal border controls”.
Faced with the “weaponisation” of migrants by Belarus and Russia (see EUROPE 13561/5), “all these measures (Warsaw has erected a physical barrier and intends to make exceptions to the right of asylum, editor’s note) are relevant and entirely justified”. The minister also said that he had the support of the interior ministers of the other Member States at the informal meeting in Warsaw on 30 January.
Challenged by Charlie Weimers of Sweden, a member of the ECR group close to the Polish PiS, over his position on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, the minister sought to remove any doubt and assured the House that the position of the Tusk government (which refuses to implement certain parts of the reform) was as firm on migration as that of the previous government.
The minister also reiterated Warsaw’s wish to go beyond what the ‘Pact’ provides for in situations of instrumentalisation, and stressed that a number of Member States are ready to discuss the Pact again, given the changing situations and new hybrid threats.
Without commenting on the nature of the future ‘return centres’ or their ability to respect migrants’ rights, as requested by some elected representatives, the minister repeated that ‘innovative solutions’ for managing irregular flows are a necessity, because in his view there is no other possible solution.
“We need unstoppable legislation on returns; we don’t have any solutions at present. We can also use commercial leverage and find solutions that benefit all stakeholders”, he explained. And “looking for third countries that accept these returns is an innovative solution, and the only one possible”.
In his opening remarks, the minister stressed the need to find “solutions that go beyond the classic ‘Pact’”. But he also stressed the need to open up new channels for legal labour migration, by selecting qualified people from safe third countries who would not put the EU at risk of extortion. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)