"We want a referendum on migration. We do not agree to any dictates, forced quotas, or violations of our rights and sovereignty. We want Poles to decide about it. This is the plan of the Law and Justice government," he said in a video recording posted on X (formerly Twitter), on Monday.
Mateusz Morawiecki/Twitter
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, reiterated that Poland rejects EU plans to impose a migrant relocation scheme on member states and that Polish citizens must decide on how to deal with the situation by a public vote.
As Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is making migration from the Middle East and Africa a central topic of its electoral campaign ahead of a parliamentary vote on October 15, Morawiecki presented the government’s plan to prevent illegal border crossings in several points.
“We want a referendum on migration. We do not agree to any dictates, forced quotas, or violations of our rights and sovereignty. We want Poles to decide about it. This is the plan of the Law and Justice government,” he said in a video recording posted on X (formerly Twitter), on Monday.
As revealed by Morawiecki on Sunday, one of four questions for the forthcoming national referendum, set for the same day as the parliamentary elections, will be: “Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa under the forced relocation mechanism imposed by European bureaucracy?”
According to Morawiecki, the building of a wall on the Polish-Belarusian border serves as a signal to “migrants controlled by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Belarisian President Aleksander Lukashenko,” who are brought from the Middle East to Belarus and transported to the border with Poland.
“We have invested in the border guard and even engaged the army so that everyone who crosses the wall knows that they will be searched for and deported,” he said.
Morawiecki added that the government was operating on the European forum. “Polish diplomacy convinces other EU countries to our plan. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, or Frontex, must be reformed. We need stronger protection of our borders,” he said.
At the same time, he added, the European Commission should restructure the budget to support the development of countries that are the sources of mass immigration.
According to Morawiecki, social benefits for people from outside the EU should be limited. “We cannot allow the system to be abused. Money should be spent better and go primarily to European Union citizens who work hard and pay taxes,” he argued.
He added that “it is necessary to effectively combat people-smuggling gangs through the use of Europol, Interpol and Frontex,” and to clampdown on the cooperation between non-governmental organisations and people smugglers.