Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today after talks with his Czech counterpart Petar Fiala that the two agreed that the European Union should use more good measures to prevent illegal migration, reported the Polish news agency PAP.
They also criticized the practice of renewing border control between member countries of the union.
Tusk and Petar Fiala met within the framework of the Polish-Czech intergovernmental consultations that took place today in Prague.
„The task of the EU is to protect the external borders and minimize illegal migration, not to create internal borders or to look for mechanisms to redirect groups of illegal migrants inside Europe”, Tusk said.
Fiala also spoke in favor of changing the European way of dealing with illegal migration, adding that he and Tusk agreed that “more needs to be done”.
„We need to act proactively and more assertively towards third parties, and I think we have a very clear and very consistent position on the matter. Similarly, we have a negative opinion on the introduction of long-term controls at the EU's internal borders. In our opinion, this is not a solution, it is not a long-term tool for the fight against illegal migration," he said.
Tusk announced that Poland and the Czech Republic will firmly insist at the upcoming European Council that debates on migration need to be held.
„The goal is for the leaders of the European countries to seriously consider the advantages and disadvantages of the current measures so that we can effectively protect the whole of Europe and its member countries from the wave of illegal migration, increasingly organized by external forces,”, said the Polish Prime Minister.