- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Poland Unable to Bear Economic Brunt of Migrant Crisis – Party Leader

© Sputnik / Leonid SviridovMateusz Piskorski
Mateusz Piskorski - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Poland cannot cope with the social and economic costs of the EU migrant resettlement plan that aims to share out the surging number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa among European countries, the leader of the Polish Zmiana (Change) party told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Piskorski added that there was no understanding as to why Poland, a country without colonial past, should bear these expenses and the risks associated with the migrant crisis.

"Poles believe that, first of all, the social and economic condition of the country does not allow them accept migrants, so-called refugees, and provide them with humanitarian aid," Zmiana’s Mateusz Piskorski said.

An opinion poll, conducted by the UK-based Populus research and strategy consultancy exclusively for Sputnik and published earlier on Tuesday, found that 51 percent of Polish respondents opposed the government’s decision to accept refugees.

Voters read documents during the first round of Polish local elections in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014 - Sputnik International
EU, Russia, Ukraine Brace for Big Changes in Poland Following Elections
Piskorski said this was a conservative estimate as the actual proportion of Poles who oppose taking in refugees was around 65-66 percent.

He added that Polish attitudes toward migrants were formed not only by the refugees arriving from the Middle East, but also from conflict-torn Ukraine.

"The presence of Ukrainian nationals on the Polish territory has influenced the labor market, the level of salaries, and that is why the attitude of Poles towards migrants is not very positive," Piskorski noted.

Poland, alongside the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, initially opposed the binding EU quota system for distributing refugees.

It eventually gave in to Brussels amid threats from EU officials to cut funding for the country.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала