Polish PM says he won't respect EU right to asylum if it threatens his country's security
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned he would not respect or implement any EU asylum right if it threatened Poland's security, stressing that "no one will convince me or force me to change my mind."
Speaking on Saturday while addressing his party's Civic Coalition convention in Warsaw, he said he would be "absolutely tough and ruthless," over illegal migration.
The Civic Coalition took power away from the Law and Justice Party (PiS) last October in Poland's general election.
"We will not respect or implement any European, or EU ideas if we are sure that they harm our security. I am talking here about the migration pact," he stressed.
Tusk is expected to present the new Polish migration pact at a government meeting on Tuesday, 15 October.
"After adopting this migration strategy, we will reduce illegal migration in Poland to a minimum. We will eradicate those practices that de facto bypassed Polish interests, that violated the security of Poles and the Polish state," he said.
It has now been two years since Poland erected a 190-kilometre metal barrier to stop migrants from entering from Belarus.
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Though the influx has diminished, public debate over the issue has remained, especially since May, when a soldier was fatally stabbed by a migrant.
The government, in response, set up an additional 200-metre buffer zone along the border, which is also the European Union's eastern frontier.