Poland to remain outside EU migrant relocation system while hosting Ukrainians

ISTANBUL

Poland will remain exempt from the EU’s mandatory migrant relocation system for as long as it continues hosting large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Friday.

Speaking to private broadcaster Polsat News, Sikorski said the exemption was not permanent but would last “a good couple of years,” TVP World reported.

He noted that the presence of millions of Ukrainians in Poland constituted “huge migratory pressure,” also recognized by Brussels.

“While we have a huge number of refugees, Europe should show solidarity with us,” he said.

“Today the EU recognizes that, and this year, and for as long as Ukrainians are here, we are exempt from that mechanism.”

The EU is preparing to implement its Migration Pact, a major reform of the bloc’s asylum and migration management system aimed at easing pressure on frontline states and distributing asylum seekers more evenly.

Under the plan, EU governments must contribute to a "Solidarity Pool" through one of three options: accepting relocated asylum seekers, paying a financial contribution in lieu of relocation, or providing operational assistance at the bloc’s external borders.

Poland is among six member states eligible to request a waiver from the obligations due to what the European Commission considers “heightened migratory pressure.”

The other countries are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Estonia, all of which have taken in significant numbers of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war.

Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk confirmed Thursday that Warsaw had formally submitted its request for a full exemption from the solidarity mechanism.

He said the application would be discussed at the Dec. 8-9 meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, though a definitive answer was not guaranteed at that session.

“We will see whether that process ends (then)” Duszczyk told reporters, adding that EU ministers are required to make a decision by the end of the year.

Duszczyk expressed confidence that Poland’s exemption would be approved, saying he saw “no danger, no reason why that application should not be approved.”