Radek Pietruszka/PAP

Ambassadors of EU member states have decided to suspend work on an important element of the migration pact proposed by the European Commission (EC) Poland’s EU affairs minister told Polish Radio.

The European Commission has proposed a migrant relocation programme, under which EU members will have to accept an initial quota of 30,000 migrants from countries bearing the brunt of migration from the Middle East and Africa, such as Greece and Italy, or pay about EUR 22,000 per every migrant they refuse to admit.

Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, the EU affairs minister, confirmed to the public broadcaster Polish Radio on Thursday that a few more countries, apart from Poland and Hungary, on Wednesday blocked the negotiations on the crisis management regulation, which is the most important element of the pact on migration and asylum as it concerns mandatory relocation.

According to the latest news, among these countries are Germany and the Netherlands.

Szynkowski vel Sek said that “indeed, yesterday the Permanent Representatives Committee decided to suspend work on an important element of the migration pact.”

“Work on this act is postponed until at least September,” he said, making a reservation that the information was preliminary.

According to him, this confirms that “the doubts raised by Poland regarding the migration pact and the solutions contained there are being increasingly heard by other countries.”

“It is absolutely not a breakthrough, but it is a glimmer of hope,” he said.

Poland and Hungary were the only countries to vote against a migration deal, approved by ministers of EU member states in early June.

In reaction to the initial approval, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said that the issue of relocation of migrants in the European Union must be submitted to a referendum in Poland. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has confirmed the intention to hold the referendum together with the parliamentary elections in the autumn.