Roundup: Refugee issue sparks discussion in Poland

During Tuesday's meeting of EU internal affairs ministers in Brussels, decisions were made regarding the division of first 66,000 refugees between EU countries.

The quota for Poland was raised, adding around 4,500 refugees to the previous 2,000 amount. The decision, as well as the whole refugee problem, sparked heated discussion within the country.

On Tuesday evening, Poland's deputy minister of internal affairs, Rafal Trzaskowski, informed that Poland had agreed to accept another group of refugees.

"What is important," the minister said, "is that there is no automatism, as we have stated since the very beginning, it must be an independent decision of member countries, without any system and imposing numbers."

Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, during her meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, declared that Poland would not accept refugee quotas.

She added the refugees should be divided from economical immigrants and that the control over EU's external borders should be increased.

Trzaskowski assured that the country's security would be ensured.

Poland would be able to help those most in need -- women and children -- while still having a right to refuse the entrance of people seen as a possible threat, he said.

Poland would also have the right to stop accepting refugees in the event conflicts in the Middle East escalate. According to the new decision, the first refugees might be placed in Poland next year, while the whole process might be longer, even up to three years.

Tuesday's decision, however, has been severely criticized by the opposition party.

In view of the upcoming governmental election in Poland, the refugee issue has become one of the most crucial topics raised during the campaign.

Beata Szydlo, a prime ministerial candidate representing the Law and Justice Party (PiS), said the decision was against the country's security as well as the opinion and will of the majority of Polish society.

Moreover, she criticized Poland for breaking away from the other countries of the Visegrad Group (V4). She reminded that other V4 countries, including Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, had voted against refugee acceptance quotas.

Earlier, on Monday, the V4 held it's own meeting of internal affairs ministers in Prague, wherein they refused to accept the obligatory immigrant quotas. A representative of Luxembourg, the country holding the EU presidency, was present as well.

Polish society is divided between those supporting the move to help immigrants and those reluctant to, mostly due to fear of possible terrorism and economic migrants, the latter who pose a possible threat to job opportunities. In September, marches and manifestations, both for and against were organized throughout the country.

On Wednesday, Kopacz attended another meeting in Brussels, this time aimed at countries and government leaders of the EU countries. The overall plan of dealing with the refugees challenge is to be discussed.

According to the recent information of Polish Press Agency on Wednesday, the European Commission adopted 40 infringement decisions against several member states, including Poland, for failing to fully implement legislation making up the Common European Asylum System.

Following Wednesday's EU discussions, a meeting between the Polish president and prime minister will most probably be held on this matter. Endit