In Poland, the right to apply for asylum should be suspended, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the decision of his government, reported "Süddeutsche Zeitung", quoted by BTA.
"The right to apply for asylum is being exploited by Poland's enemies today," Tusk said. In times of hybrid warfare, decisive action is needed. In the event of a danger to the country, there should be a possibility of temporarily suspending the right to asylum. This is provided for in the bill, which still needs to be adopted by the Sejm and signed by President Andrzej Duda.
Tusk first spoke about his idea of suspending the right to asylum in mid-October, followed by a decision by the Council of Ministers. Poland shares a border of around 418 km with Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko, who is closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, rules in a dictatorial manner. Since the end of summer 2021, migrants from Africa, the Middle East and other countries have been regularly arriving at Poland's border, which is the EU's external border, as well as at the borders of Lithuania and Latvia, and for some time now also Finland, the German newspaper notes.
"Süddeutsche Zeitung" points out that the European Commission is explicitly supporting the actions of Poland and Finland, where similar legislation has already been passed. Even with money. A total of 170 million euros is to be paid to Poland, Finland, the three Baltic states and Norway, which is not a member of the EU, so that they can upgrade their borders with electronic surveillance technology. Poland will receive the largest share - 52 million euros.
Tusk said on Wednesday in Warsaw that he wants to promote a "more realistic design of EU migration policy" during the upcoming Polish presidency of the Council of the EU in January, notes "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
Hungary has granted asylum to a Polish deputy minister from the former right-wing populist government of "Law and Justice" (PiS), Hungarian authorities announced, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
On Wednesday, Poland issued a European arrest warrant for former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski.
Romanowski's lawyer Bartosz Lewandowski confirmed on the social network "Ex" that Hungary had granted his client's asylum application. Another confirmation came from the head of the office of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
According to Lewandowski, in his asylum application, Romanowski claimed that the Polish prosecutor's investigations against him were politically motivated.
He also stated that he could not expect a fair trial in Poland and that the Hungarian authorities had granted the application because the former deputy minister's "rights and freedoms" were restricted in his homeland.
In "Ex", Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that Hungary's actions were seen as a "hostile act against Poland and the principles of the European Union".
Romanowski is being investigated in connection with 11 cases, including on suspicion of membership in a criminal organization. He is alleged to have diverted large sums of money from the crime victims fund to projects that then-Justice Minister Zbigniew Żobro considered beneficial to PiS.
Romanowski, who was briefly arrested in July, denies all charges. He was released days later on the grounds that he enjoys immunity as a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
His immunity was lifted in October, and on December 9 a Polish court ordered his re-arrest, but Romanowski could not be located.