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EU States Must Decide on Refugee Relocation, Not EU Commission - Polish FM

© AFP 2023 / Fabio BucciarelliSyrian refugees stand inside the Moria camp during the demostration against the deal between EU and Turkey, on March 24, 2016 in Lesbos.
Syrian refugees stand inside the Moria camp during the demostration against the deal between EU and Turkey, on March 24, 2016 in Lesbos. - Sputnik International
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Poland will not allow the European Commission to force EU members into accepting refugee relocation quotas, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Tuesday.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda speaks outside PGE National Stadium, the venue of the NATO Summit, in Warsaw, Poland July 8, 2016. - Sputnik International
Polish President Vows Referendum on Accepting Refugees Amid EU Pressure
WARSAW (Sputnik) In May, EU Commissioner on Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos warned that the European Commission could impose sanctions on Poland and Hungary if these states did not start accepting refugees from other EU countries.

"Migration decisions can only be made by member states. It depends on the labor market, on demographics. No international institution can impose this type of decision its member states… We will not allow the decision-making power on these matters to be shifted from states to the EU institutions," Waszczykowski said while aired by Polish Television.

The Commission does not understand the need of some EU member states to protect their labor markets and security, he added.

In September 2015, the heads of the Internal Affairs Ministries of EU member states decided to resettle 120,000 asylum seekers that arrived to Italy and Greece to 23 out of 28 countries of the bloc in addition to the previously agreed upon 40,000 people with a specific quota for each member state.

Poland was expected to accept some 7,000 refugees under the EU mandatory relocation scheme, but refused to comply. Polish authorities have repeatedly stated that they opposed the forced movement of refugees, but were willing to help migrants if they voluntarily expressed the desire to live in the country.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday that the country would hold a referendum on accepting refugees if the European Union continued to exert pressure on Warsaw.

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