Poland will uphold its veto on EU migration pact

Poland will uphold its veto on a European Union migration pact, its prime minister said today, as the bloc searches for agreement on a system for sharing out asylum seekers who reach Europe outside of official border crossings, Reuters reports.

The EU’s top migration official said the bloc was set to agree how to handle irregular immigration soon after ministers’ talks yielded no final deal yesterday, with Germany and Italy worried over rising arrivals ahead of key elections.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party also faces elections on 15 October and one of its main campaign promises is to protect Poland from illegal immigration. It announced a referendum on the issue on the same day as the vote.

“I am going to the European Council next week where I will uphold my veto on illegal migration,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a televised statement.

“This is an attempt to attack not only the sovereignty of Poland and other member states, but also an attempt to destabilise the EU in a non-democratic manner.”In talks yesterday, ministers had been seeking a deal on new rules that would apply in the event of a sudden refugee crisis such as that in 2015 when more than one million people arrived from Syria and beyond.

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