The European Commission must resolve the migration issue as soon as possible or the 27-member EU is in danger of falling apart, Poland's interior minister warned Wednesday.
"If we do not manage migration, the Schengen Area will disappear and the arguments for the EU will become fewer and fewer. In some time, the EU may fall apart," Maciej Duszczyk told Radio ZET in an interview. "This will not be an immediate scenario, but it will work within 15-20 years," he added.
"I think that if we do not deal with this very quickly, we may be at risk of introducing border controls at individual borders. So this will be the first signal to leave the Schengen Area," Duszczyk said. "The Schengen Area is absolutely the most important effect of the European Union for many citizens. If we don't have the Schengen Area, why do we need the EU?" Duszczyk asked.
"Putin and Lukashenko are playing on this, but I think that many countries in Africa and China are also playing on it. They want the EU to fall apart, for this community to disappear from the face of the Earth," said Duszczyk.
His call comes as the EU executive works out its new executive composition and how to manage rising migration from outside the bloc. The bloc proposed a new migration pact in May, which has been rejected by Poland and other eastern member states. Poland's border with Belarus has become a hotspot with rising numbers of migrants being pushed into the EU by Belarus.
The number of foreigners registered in Poland's social insurance system, ZUS, rose 6% in 2023 to 1.13 million, with immigrants now making up 7% of all those in the system.
The national groups that saw the largest rise in numbers in 2023 were Belarusians (21,264) and Ukrainians (13,407). They were followed by Indians (4,588), Colombians (3,535), Nepalese (3,481), Filipinos (2,870), Uzbeks (2,026), Turks (1,783), Bangladeshis (1,770) and Indonesians (1,759). Poland's Border Guards estimates that up to 17,000 illegal migrants have crossed the border from Belarus in 2024.
The issue has put Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's ruling party, Civic Coalition, in a bind, attacked by the nationalist opposition for being too soft on border security. On Tuesday, Poland's opposition party Law and Justice published a spot on social media criticizing Tusk's government for its migration policy.
Meanwhile, Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called on Monday for Belarus to cooperate in establishing the identity and handing over the murderer of the Polish soldier at the border fence in late May. "Belarus responded in a completely unsatisfactory way - instead of searching for and handing over the murderer to us, it made accusations of allegedly breaking off the cooperation of the border guards. Unfortunately, we do not expect good cooperation from the Belarusian side," Sikorski said.
