Following last week’s terrorist attacks in Europe, Poland has reiterated its position not to take anymore Muslim migrants into the country.
“We are convinced, looking at the recent attacks that where a large number of poorly integrated Muslims live, it is [also] a natural base for terrorism,” said Pawel Soloch, the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau (BBN).
The remarks by the chief of Poland’s national security came just days after a wave of Islamist terror attacks hit Europe. Last Thursday, an Islamist attack in Barcelona killed 15 people and injured at least 130. Thursday’s attack was followed by an Islamist stabbing attack in Finland that killed 2 women, wounding 8 others. All the terrorists involved in those attacks were Muslim men of North African origin.
Austria’s leading newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported:
“In my view, a rise in the Muslim refugee numbers leads to an increased terror threat,” [Soloch] told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. At the same time he warned of a refugee wave heading towards Poland.In early 2016, the Polish head of the government, Beata Szydlo, had stopped the intake of refugees after the attacks in Brussels. “I see no way that the refugees are coming to Poland,” the conservative leader said at that time. Within the EU, besides Poland, Hungary too stopped accepting refuge. Both the countries have not taken a single refugee till date.In 2015, the EU Interior Ministers [in a majority vote] agreed to redistribute 120,000 refugees despite the opposition from several East European countries — in order to unburden Italy and Greece. This was in addition to the already agreed 40,000 asylum seekers. According to the decision, people had to be resettled across the EU within two years. [Polish Prime Minister] Szydlo’s moderate-conservative predecessor Ewa Kopacz had accepted to take 7,500 refugee following the talks with the EU. That never happened.Late July, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings and urged the governments of Poland and Hungary to give in. If the governments fail to act, the EU can take the case to the next level at the European Court of Justice. If the EU wins, the[se] countries will face damaging financial penalties. A judgement is expected in the month of September. [Translation by the Author]
“In agreeing to take in refugees, the [previous government] put a ticking bomb under us,” Poland’s new Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said earlier this year. “We’re defusing that bomb.”
As the Austrian newspaper noted, Poland is not averse to the idea of immigration. The country welcomes immigrants from its Eastern borders. The Polish government has launched a scheme similar to the U.S. Green Card called the ‘Karta Polaka’ that will enable migrants from the East to stay and work in the country, as well as get a permanent residency after a 12-month stay.
Nor is Poland opposed to all refugees. Last year, a Polish charity brought 300 Syrian Christians to the country. Slovakia, too, has agreed to take 200 Christian refugees. The Czech Republic has also taken 70 Syrian families based on the same criteria.
The fact remains that while countries like Germany, France, Belgium, and the UK — with high-rates of immigration from Muslim majority countries — have been rocked by one deadly terrorist attack after another, East European countries with stricter immigration rules for illegal migrants or ‘refugees’ have, so far, been spared from such attacks.
Video: EU starts legal action against Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic for refusing to relocate migrants [July 2017]
[Cover image via YouTube]
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