In October, the Polish government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, unveiled a new migration politics under which it temporarily halted the
right to asylum for migrants coming Poland via the Belarus border, after it accused the government in Minsk of weaponizing migration.
On Wednesday, the European Commission formally backed Tusk’s tough new policy.
The commission’s executive vice president, Henna Virkkunen, said that EU member states are permitted to suspend migrants’ fundamental rights in exceptional circumstances, such as those faced by Poland along its eastern frontier.
However, the Polish authorities’ response has been criticized, with a leading human rights organization accusing border guards of
“unlawfully and sometimes violently” forcing migrants back into Belarus without assessing their need for protection.
Since 2021, Poland has faced a migration crisis at its border with Belarus, which Warsaw and the EU have said is the result of a “hybrid war” orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow to destabilize the EU.
Poland claims that Belarus and its ally Russia are responsible for funneling people from the Middle East and Africa to its eastern border, after luring them with promises of easy access to Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone.
Both Minsk and Moscow have denied the accusations.
‘Special situation’
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Maciej Duszczyk, a Polish deputy interior minister, said: “It is very important that the [European] Commission has taken notice of our truly special situation as a country, which is difficult to compare, for example, with the south of Europe.”
Giving details of Poland’s new policy, Duszczyk said the country would be able to refuse asylum in cases of group border crossings involving violence or destruction of border infrastructure, adding that the measure was of a time-limited nature and restricted to specific areas along the country’s eastern frontier.
He added that individuals who illegally crossed the Polish border with Belarus would not be granted international protection and would have to return to Belarusian territory. He stopped short of saying that they would be forcibly returned there.
Priority for vulnerable migrants
Poland will continue to accept asylum applications, but only at official border crossings, Duszczyk said, adding that priority will be given to vulnerable individuals, including pregnant women, children, victims of violence in Belarus, and opposition activists, including Belarusians.
Referring to vulnerable migrants, Duszczyk said: “Of course, the suspension of asylum law will not apply to these people. Special measures will be taken against aggressive groups of migrants who threaten the security of the state, and not against people who really want to apply for protection.”
