EU ambassadors agreed on the so-called “regulation on crisis situations” at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Poland and Hungary voted against the measure, while Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria abstained, according to officials.
Wednesday’s deal on the crisis regulation paves the way for establishing common rules to manage an unexpected mass arrival of asylum seekers, a crucial element of the EU’s migration reform, the Euronews website reported.
The agreement on the “regulation on crisis situations” will form the basis of negotiations between the European Council’s Spanish presidency and the European Parliament, according to officials.
The deal was previously blocked at an EU ambassadors’ meeting in Brussels before the summer, amid opposition from Poland, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland opposes the EU’s planned new migration and asylum pact, which officials say includes the mandatory sharing of asylum seekers among member states and fines for countries that refuse to admit migrants.
Poland’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Andrzej Sadoś, had earlier called on the EU's Spanish presidency to take steps to facilitate a consensus on the bloc’s migration and asylum policy reform, according to officials.
Sadoś said the consensus should be in line with the European Council conclusions from December 2016, June 2018 and June 2019, especially as regards the voluntary choice of measures to support a country under migration pressure, the PAP news agency reported.
On Wednesday, Sadoś reiterated Poland’s opposition to the EU’s planned new migration and asylum pact, telling the meeting in Brussels that it would attract illegal migration, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
'Mandatory relocation' of migrants would 'create chaos in Europe': Polish leader
Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Wednesday that the EU’s proposed migration pact and “mandatory relocation” of migrants would “create chaos in Europe,” the wnp.pl website reported.
Kaczyński, who serves as deputy prime minister, told voters in the central city of Łódź that “migrants disrupt public order and security,” adding that the security of Polish citizens must not be compromised.
MEPs debate 'the need for speedy adoption of migration package'
Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament held a debate on “the need for a speedy adoption of the asylum and migration package,” the PAP news agency reported.
Margaritis Schinas, vice-president of the EU’s executive Commission, told lawmakers that the bloc needed to immediately put in place a “common European migration and asylum system.”
He added that the proposed pact would address “all our problems” with asylum seekers in the EU, according to PAP.
The debate in the European Parliament was held at the request of the European People’s Party (EPP) group, which includes Poland’s main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), led by ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The current prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said in a pre-election video posted on Wednesday that “Tusk’s party” was seeking to push the new migration pact through the European Parliament, paving the way for “mandatory relocation of migrants.”
Morawiecki added: “We won’t allow this to happen. We issued a veto in 2018 and we’ll repeat it now.”
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, European Council, Euronews, wnp.pl, European Parliament, Polskie Radio Katowice