Mariusz Blaszczak made the claim in an election video published on X which covered the 2021 migrant crisis, which saw hundreds of migrants trying to get into Poland from Belarus.
Marcin Onufryjuk/PAP
Poland’s defence minister has said that the main opposition party would dismantle a fence on the Belarusian border, if it was returned to power.
The country goes to the polls on October 15 and the government has made migration and security a central tenet of its election campaign, even including a question about the border fence in a referendum it intends to hold on the same day as the election.
Mariusz Blaszczak made the claim in an election video published on X which covered the 2021 migrant crisis, which saw hundreds of migrants trying to get into Poland from Belarus.
As a result of it the border fence was constructed, while at the same time the Polish government accused the Belarusian authorities of orchestrating the crisis in order to destabilise both Poland and the EU.
In his post Blaszczak said: “Two years ago, a hybrid attack on Poland was launched, led by the regimes of Putin and Lukashenko. Today, no one has any doubts that it was about destabilising the situation in Poland.”
He added that “the government of Law and Justice has consistently ensured the security of our border from the very beginning, we have built a fence that stops illegal immigrants, the border is defended by soldiers, border guards and the police.”
“Today, the border is safe, and what is the opposition doing? They organised happenings, instead of defending soldiers and officers, they insulted them and sided with illegal migrants,” he went on to say.
According to Blaszczak, Civic Platform (PO), the main opposition party, wants to dismantle the fence.
“Do not delude yourself that PO politicians will take care of your safety,” he said. “If they return to power, they will dismantle it”.
The government’s focus on border security and migration has prompted opposition accusations that it is scaremongering ahead of the election in an attempt to drum up support.
In an apparent response to Blaszczak’s comments, Grzegorz Schetyna, an MP and the former head of Civic Platform, told the radio station RMF FM that “today, no one wants to dismantle the fence at the border,” adding that “we want it to be effective.”
According to Schetyna, the fence is failing to function because it “is full of holes like a sieve”. The evidence of this, he added, can been seen in the high number of refugees who are either detained in Germany or on the Polish-German border.
“Poland is a cardboard country and this a result of the PiS government,” he said.