Expert explained why Poland plans migration referendum

The Head of Poland’s International Policy Bureau, Secretary of State Marcin Przydacz, said earlier that his country intends to host a referendum on migration. In his talk with Alfa Radio, political expert Yuri Shevtsov explained the reason for this desire of Warsaw.

According to Mr. Przydacz, Poles – rather than EU officials – should decide who Poland will accept and who will not.

“This is a continuation of the Polish politics. This topic was aggravated in 2015, when millions of people went to Germany from Turkiye through the Balkan Peninsula. Around that time, Poland refused to accept so many people, primarily Muslims. Europe then tried to introduce quotas, to distribute millions of people between different European countries, but Poles stated that they would accept only those migrants who are culturally close to them. Then they actively began to focus on the reception of migrants from the former Soviet republics, primarily Ukraine,” Mr. Shevtsov noted, adding that the statements that are being made in Poland today are a continuation of that policy.

The expert continued, “Poles do not want to accept foreign cultural migration, since they do not want to depend on Brussels. They want, as far as possible, to conduct their own policy, and they have a ghostly hope that they will be able to assimilate or otherwise integrate Ukrainians and other migrants from the East. Actually, mythologization and exaggeration of their own abilities are common for the political culture of Poles.”

At the same time, Mr. Shevtsov drew attention to another important point, “There has been a flow of migration from the Middle East and Africa to Poland and from there to Germany through Belarus for two years already. In principle, Poles should leave these migrants on their territory. In line with the EU legislation, if a migrant – crossing the border of a member state – applies for help, then he should undergo procedures in the state where he applied for. However, Poles allowed the emergence of a huge industry of people's traffic to Europe on their own territory. This means that a huge number of these migrants may appear on their territory in a short time. They are afraid that Brussels will crush them with quotas and force to accept Muslims from Germany. In addition, they are afraid that, for example, two million Afghans will settle on their territory in a short time.”