Le Point accused Poland of bribery in issuing visas to migrants
The recent dismissal of Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk points to a corruption scandal related to the issuance of visas to migrants – as noted by journalist Emmanuel Berretta in an article for the French edition of Le Point
The author of the publication recalled that, in the midst of the election campaign, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki dismissed the Deputy Foreign Minister. The reason for that decision was reportedly a scandal related to the issuance of visas to migrants from Asia. The PM did not give clear explanations, but only stated about the ‘lack of satisfactory co-operation’.
The Polish media, including the Wyborcza daily, have learned some details. On August 31st, 2023, Polish special services visited the Foreign Ministry’s headquarters as part of an audit of the activities of Indian VFS Global, which acted as an intermediary in obtaining visas. In addition, the investigators planned to check the smartphone of Piotr Wawrzyk, who had been a PiS deputy since 2019. A few hours later, the Prime Minister decided to dismiss that man, who was also supposed to take a fairly high place on the PiS list in the October 15th parliamentary elections. According to the media, posters had already been printed by then.
Employees of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau believe that Piotr Wawrzyk was involved in a corrupt scheme for issuing Polish visas with the complicity of one of his family members: each issued visa entailed a bribe of $5,000.
“The scandal has placed PiS in an awkward position. The ruling party has been playing the anti-immigration card for years, and in order for this issue to take a prominent place in the election campaign, the Government even decided to hold a referendum on migration on the day of parliamentary elections," the French publication reads.
In his article, Emmanuel Berretta noted that the main opponent of PiS, Donald Tusk who heads Civic Platform, had made a lot of noise out of it, condemning the duplicity of the ruling party. “To unleash anti-migrant hysteria, attract a record number of migrants, earn millions on visas and, finally, hold a referendum on migration,” he quoted Donald Tusk's message on social networks.
PiS immediately excluded Piotr Wawrzyk from its list.
The journalist said that Poland had been attracting workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries to its territory for many years, “Experiencing a shortage of labour, Warsaw issues visas to Muslim workers from these countries, while stating that it opposes Muslim immigration. At the EU level, Poland refused to accept its share of Syrian refugees. In the EU Council, the country voted against the asylum reform, while promising to regulate flows more seriously. The rhetoric of PiS and its voices in the European Union do not correspond to reality.”
Unlike PiS, its ally in the alliance of European conservatives and reformists, Giorgia Meloni, decided to adhere to a strictly European approach to migration: according to the publication, she approved the European documents currently being adopted. Together with the Chairperson of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, she went to Tunisia to sign a comprehensive agreement, which included migration-related articles. Due to the shortage of labour in her country, she signed a decree this July that formalises and regulates legal migration for many years.
Emmanuel Berretta noted that the ‘political schizophrenia of PiS’ was sharply condemned by Donald Tusk. “Do you know who attracts Muslim immigrants to Europe the most?” he asks in a video made after the incident as part of his election campaign.
“[This is] the Government that scares them the most. Last year alone, the PiS Government issued 135 thousand permits to visitors from Muslim countries. Poland was even ahead of France and Germany in this issue. Poles have just found out why," Le Point quoted Donald Tusk as saying.
