Poland Holds Out Against the EU Migration Pact

How The Migration Crisis Unfolded

In 2015, at the height of the Syrian Civil War, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Europe’s doors to migrants, declaring “Wir schaffen das” (“We can handle this”). This decision triggered the greatest migration crisis Europe has ever seen and disrupted the EU’s legal framework for asylum claims. By inviting migrants into Europe’s welfare systems, we witnessed over a million arrivals in that year alone. Human traffickers profited, violence erupted, and tragic images like that of Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body on a Turkish beach flooded the global media.

Eight years later, despite efforts to deny the consequences of this policy, little has changed. Millions continue to try to reach the West and, in the European Union, a left-wing and centrist majority seeks to address the problem with a new Migration Pact.

Our Investigation

We went to the European Parliament to understand why Europe is taking this approach and what politicians had to say about a burden-sharing scheme which would force nations to pay €20,000 per migrant that they refuse.

This new proposal aims to distribute migrants across member states but doesn’t address the underlying issues of uncontrolled immigration. The pact imposes financial penalties on countries that choose not to accept migrants even if those individuals haven’t reached their borders yet. There’s no upper limit on how many quota migrants can be assigned to a country, effectively giving Brussels a tool to pressure member states economically if they refuse to comply.

Naturally, this arrangement is unacceptable to states which have long maintained strong border controls, and especially Poland.

Citing the fact that Poland took in around a million refugees from the Ukranian War, Poland's Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak expanded on Warsaw's long history of vigilance against a very different form of migration to that which threatens the porous borders of the Mediterranean. "This is hybrid aggression. These are people who arrive by airplanes in Moscow, Minsk and are driven by buses to the vicinity of the border, instructed by Belarusian services."

Poland's strict migration policy - much derided under the PiS government - now looks set to continue under Donald Tusk. Furthermore, while not explicitly endorsing Poland's historic stance on immigration, Poland's former critics have gone notably silent on Warsaw's tough borders and conceded that the defensive stance was not, after all, bad policy. The Visegrád Group (Poland, Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia), have all taken similar positions against attempts to update the EU's migration policy.

The Revolt of the Electorate

Dissent is brewing along the EU's Eastern periphery. Countries like Bulgaria and Romania face significant challenges with illegal migration flows, yet many in Brussels remain determined to see the Migration Pact come in to force in 2026.

The real intentions behind the Pact seem to be political. For some in Brussels, the tensions created by uncontrolled migration advance an agenda of a more federalised EU without strong nation-states. But as a plan to diminish the influence of anti-immigration parties, it is backfiring. When Hungary announced in 2015 that it was building a border fence to stop migrants, the outrage in Brussels quickly became outrage at Brussels among electorates who are fed up of being governed by high handed international diktat. European voters increasingly support exactly the parties which prioritise national sovereignty and border control over the EU.

Vox Populi

Many European leaders are in denial about the problem. They avoid terms like “illegal immigration” and downplay the issues associated with uncontrolled migration. The reality is that people are entering Europe illegally, sometimes paying bribes, and authorities often don’t know who these individuals are. This situation allows smugglers to dictate who enters the European Union while statements from leaders like Ursula von der Leyen suggest a vision where the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean become one.

But solidarity should not be coerced. It must be something that populations engage in willingly. Enforcing borders is essential for maintaining order, ensuring the security of citizens and, increasingly, securing their votes.

Those Most Deserving of Help

Poland provides a solid example of how an ordered approach to border control can benefit those most deserving of help. By effectively managing its borders, Poland has been able to integrate a significant number of Ukrainian refugees, offering them employment and education opportunities.

Newly elected leaders in countries like Italy and the Netherlands are signaling a likewise shift in foreign and domestic policies regarding migration. The Migration Pact may soon become a relic of the past, but the decisions made at this critical juncture will shape the continent’s future - and that of millions of the most desperate people on Earth - for generations to come.

Poland provides an example of controlled migration which nevertheless upholds the values of security, order, and compassion for refugees.

Adam Starzynski

Journalist | Foreign Policy Analyst