Italy: Migrants rescued from rough seas off Lampedusa
The whole of Europe could become Lampedusa, warns the Polish Prime Minister, as the Italian island has seen thousands of migrants arrive this summer.
The warning came as Poland has taken a firm stance against the European Union’s migration and asylum reform, citing concerns over the escalating migrant arrivals on Lampedusa.
The Italian island has seen an unprecedented surge in arrivals, with approximately 8,500 migrants landing on its shores in just three days, nearly matching the island’s permanent population.
Sounding the alarm, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged the EU to heed the Lampedusa wake-up call.
He said: “The whole [of] Europe, the whole EU, may become Lampedusa if we continue to commit the same old mistakes, the scheme and mechanisms that the Commission proposed.”
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Meanwhile, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, told RMF FM private radio: “We adopted a resolution that refers to the situation on Lampedusa, but Lampedusa is just a symbol of the situation that threatens the whole [of] Europe, including Poland.”
Poland, alongside Hungary, has been a vocal critic of the EU’s newly implemented mandatory solidarity-based migration management system, which was approved by the European Council earlier this year.
Under this system, EU member states have the option to decide whether to engage in relocation efforts or provide financial or operational assistance.
However, Poland has strongly objected to the financial contribution option, branding it as punitive for its earlier refusal to accept migrants. Warsaw argues that it has already proven its commitment to managing EU migration by accommodating over a million war refugees from Ukraine.
In the newly adopted resolution, the Polish government unequivocally rejects the concept of relocation. It intends to submit a strongly-worded document to the European Commission, demanding the reversal of its withdrawal from the 2018 agreement that mandated relocation, as per Kaczyński’s announcement.
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Kaczyński stressed that in the face of the migrant “incursion” the most effective strategy lies in fortifying the EU’s external borders and repatriating those who have entered the bloc. He suggested that exploring alternative solutions is essential, provided they entail the expulsion of these individuals from EU territory.
With the resolution, the Polish government aims to send a clear message to the European Commission but also to the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, led by Donald Tusk.
Irregular migration remains a significant issue as Poland prepares for the October elections, which will coincide with a referendum on the EU’s migration and asylum system.
The referendum aims to gauge public sentiment on whether to accept thousands of irregular migrants from the Middle East and Africa, in line with the forced relocation mechanism imposed by European bureaucrats.
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