Poland’s prime minister has said the government is working on plans to react quickly to organized crime with a view to deporting any foreign nationals involved.
At a joint press conference with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Donald Tusk said he had requested the ministries of interior and justice to present plans to address crimes committed by foreigners.
“Anyone who visits Poland, takes advantage of our hospitality and brutally violates the law will be deported from Poland,” he said, adding that the plans would have a “practical dimension” in the coming days.
Tusk’s comments came in the context of talks on EU migration policy. He said he had informed von der Leyen that Warsaw would not implement the bloc’s migration pact, which involves compulsory migrant relocations, as the country already hosts a large number of Ukrainian refugees.
“I said it very clearly to the Polish public, and I repeated it today to Ursula, thank you for understanding,” Tusk said. “Poland will not implement this pact that will increase the number of migrants in Poland. We are ready to cooperate with anyone to protect Europe against illegal migration. But Poland is not ready to accept any additional burdens.”
Von der Leyen, who was in Poland along with EU commissioners for talks with the Polish government, said Brussels would take into account the support Poland had given Ukraine.
Eastern EU border
Addressing long-term migratory pressure at Poland’s border with Belarus, which is also an EU external border, von der Leyen described the situation as being due to “hybrid attacks” by the regimes in Moscow and Minsk, which “cynically exploit human despair.”
She went on to say the situation is “not just a bilateral issue for Poland alone to deal with.”
“This is a European challenge,” she said. “So it needs a European solution.”
Von der Leyen said the situation was not about migration but about national security and gave her assurance of the EU’s full solidarity with Poland. Tusk confirmed the bloc will partially fund Polish border security.
“The European Union will invest into protecting Poland’s eastern border, as it is the bloc’s eastern flank,” Tusk said. Adding that “Europe will have to invest more to make the eastern border more secure, on land and also to invest in east shield infrastructure.”
The ‘East Shield’ is a Polish project to shore up security at its borders with Belarus and Russia.
