The European Commission agreed on September 2015 to relocate about 160,000 migrants from Greece and Italy to other EU member states, according to a quota system which has been designed based on population and GDP, among other measures.
Although the figure was revised downwards, to 98,255, only 16,163 have so far been relocated under the scheme.
Poland says Taking Migrants ‘Much Worse’ than EU Sanctions https://t.co/qhE43imJUF pic.twitter.com/IEJPU9kCnd
— Red Ice TV (@redicetv) 19 мая 2017 г.
Commenting on the situation, Marcin Domagalа told Sputnik Poland that Warsaw actually remains under a cloud in the EU, but that the country is unlikely to feel the burden of EU sanctions.
"Poland has a very serious ally in the EU, namely, Hungary, which will block such an initiative, even if the overwhelming majority of EU countries strongly demand sanctions against Poland," Domagala said.
However, the current situation seriously affects Poland's political image, leading to Brussels excluding Warsaw from many of the EU's plans, he noted.
"Poland is currently seen as a country with dictatorial habits. This has a negative effect, not only on the country's image, but also on its predictability. In addition, the Polish government is completely unable to convey its views to the European Commission and other EU institutions. This is mainly due to a lack of understanding by the government of what the EU is guided by, and what is expected from Poland," Domagala added.
He blamed the Polish government for their refusal to take "real refugees" and bear responsibility for a real military action staged by the United States.
He recalled that a large-scale anti-migrant campaign is under way in Poland, where Middle Eastern refugees are described as a threat to security and potential criminals or terrorists.
"Such a threat is real, but in order to prevent it, a broad program is needed to resolve the problems of these people. Real refugees should be separated from economic migrants, a task that unfortunately the Polish government is unwilling to deal with," Domagala said.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has said that her country "cannot accept refugees" and that "a critical attitude towards the mechanism of migrant relocation is becoming increasingly widespread in the European Union," according to The Independent.
Relations between Brussels and the Polish government are already strained over a spate of other sticking matters.
In particular, pressure is growing to put sanctions on Poland over changes to its constitutional court, which the Commission and MEPs say are in contravention of the EU's Rule of Law.
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