Speaking to reporters at the EU’s informal summit with Western Balkan countries in the Slovenian town of Brdo, Mateusz Morawiecki said that the meeting highlighted "growing fears" of digital threats, cyber-terrorism and attacks by cyber-criminals.
He added that it was "now clear to all the bloc’s members" that hacker attacks were often sponsored by countries, "namely Poland’s eastern neighbours," Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Morawiecki told reporters that "in this connection," Poland as well as Lithuania and Latvia had "absolutely full backing in defending ourselves against this hybrid war, this migrant onslaught, which is being artificially created by Mr. Lukashenko, by his regime.”
Reiterating his accusations against Belarus' strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, Morawiecki said that "all these attempts to attract migrants from Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Egypt and other countries are designed to create a migrant crisis in the EU.”
Referring to special measures imposed in parts of two regions along Poland's eastern border with Belarus, Morawiecki argued that "it is crystal clear that the state of emergency in the border zone was necessary."
He also said that Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, three EU member states bordering Belarus, had "absolute, unequivocal support" within the bloc as they worked to protect their frontiers against "unauthorised entry" by migrants.
"In defending our frontier against unauthorised entry, we are also defending the eastern border of the EU,” he stated.
Poland and fellow EU members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have accused Belarus' strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko of organising a wave of illegal migrants seeking to enter the bloc as part of what officials have called a "hybrid war."
The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, visited Poland last week, agreeing with Warsaw’s arguments that “firm steps” were needed against Belarus, according to officials.
Also last week, Polish lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to extend a state of emergency in parts of two regions along the country's eastern border with Belarus by two months amid a growing migrant surge.
The state of emergency gives authorities broader powers to monitor and control the movement of people on the Polish-Belarusian border, which is also the eastern border of the European Union.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, TVP Info