Polish government plans referendum asking if voters want ‘thousands of illegal immigrants’

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s ruling party wants to ask voters in a referendum whether they support accepting “thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa” ​​as part of a European Union relocation plan, the minister said. Sunday the prime minister, as his Conservative party seeks to cling to power in parliamentary elections in October.

Mateusz Morawiecki announced the referendum question in a new video posted on social media. He indicated that his party, Law and Justice, seeks to use migration in its electoral campaign, a tactic that helped him seize power in 2015.

Poland currently hosts more than a million Ukrainian refugees, who are mainly white and Christian, but officials have long made it clear that they view Muslims and others from different cultures as a threat to cultural identity and identity. security of the nation.

The EU interior ministers approved in June a plan to share the responsibility of migrants entering Europe without authorization, the root of one of the bloc’s longest-running political crises.

The Polish government wants to hold the referendum together with the parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 15. Morawiecki said the question would read: “Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa under the forced relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”

The video announcing the question includes scenes of burning cars and other street violence in Western Europe. A black man licks a huge knife in apparent anticipation of committing a crime. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says: “Do you want this to happen in Poland too? Do you want to stop owning your own country?

An opposition politician, Robert Biedron, reacted by saying that the migration issue is meaningless because participation in the EU mechanism is not mandatory and can be replaced by other forms of shared responsibility, while Poland itself could be eligible to receive support or an exemption from your contribution. due to the high number of Ukrainian refugees.

Biedron, a member of the European Parliament for the left-wing party, posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, a letter from the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson. In it, she establishes the terms of the relocation mechanism and the grounds for requesting an exemption.

Leaders have announced two more questions In recent days. One will ask voters their opinion on the privatization of state companies and the other will ask if they support raising the retirement age, which Law and Justice lowered to 60 years for women and 65 for men.

The questions are designed to portray the opposition Civic Platform party as a threat to the interests of Poles. The pro-business, pro-EU party, which ruled from 2007 to 2015, raised the retirement age during its time in power, favored some privatization and signaled its willingness to accept a few thousand refugees before losing power.

The video points directly to Leader of the Civic Platform Donald Tusk, former President of the European Council. “Tusk is the biggest threat to our security, he is the biggest threat to the security of Poland,” says Morawiecki. “Let’s not let Tusk, as an envoy of the Brussels elites, destroy security in Poland.”

Europe’s asylum system collapsed eight years ago after more than a million people entered the bloc, most of them fleeing the conflict in Syria, and overwhelmed reception capacities in Greece and Italy, prompting one of the biggest political crises in the EU.

The 27-nation EU has since sparred over which countries should take responsibility for people who arrive without authorization and whether other members should be obliged to help them cope.

Initially, Poland was neither a country of entry nor a country of destination for immigrants and refugees. It became a frontline state two years ago when migrants began crossing from Belarus, something European authorities see as an effort by a Russian ally to stir up unrest in Poland and other European countries.

Poland responded by building a large wall on its border. It has recently increased its military presence on the border fearing an increase in migration and another possible instability.

In addition to disagreements over migration, Law and Justice has long been in conflict with the EU over the bloc’s perception that the Warsaw government has been eroding democratic norms.