President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, supported Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s decision on the right to asylum.
Tusk’s proposal to temporarily and territorially suspend the right to asylum is being criticized by some left-wing circles, with accusations of violating human rights.
However, during a closed-door discussion at Thursday’s European Council meeting, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that a country’s “asylum system can be temporarily and appropriately suspended in order to respond to a hybrid attack,” she said, reports Polish news outlet Do Rzeczy.
“This is not irregular migration, it is about the European Union’s ability to defend itself against a hybrid attack,” the EC head reportedly said.
The Baltic states and Finland, which have faced similar problems, as well as Spain and Greece, are also said to have spoken up in support of Tusk’s stance.
Poland’s new migration strategy is reportedly over 30 pages long and consists of eight chapters, covering topics such as access to the territory of Poland, the right to asylum, access to the labor market, and integration.
The strategy “assumes the overriding priority of security,” and migration processes are to be “regulated in detail,” with the government demanding a change in the current approach to granting asylum.
The Tusk government will also set up a new entity, the Inter-ministerial Team for Migration, to shape Poland’s migration policy going forward.
Tusk made international headlines for claiming Poland would suspend the right to asylum, only to then immediately backtrack on his comments. Now, it appears the EU commission head is helping Tusk get out of a tight spot by clarifying such suspension will only entail refugees being sent across Poland’s borders as a form of hybrid warfare.
However, the emphasis still appears to be on making sure migration occurs legally and those who enter integrate properly.
Meanwhile, Hungary has long fought with Brussels over illegal migrants forcing their way over Hungary’s border, with border guards facing their own issues of violence.
READ MORE: Migrants attack Hungarian border police
Now, instead of support from von der Leyen and EU courts, Hungary has been slapped with a $200 million fine for blocking migrants at its border and taking action to defend the Schengen Area’s external border from illegal entry. Hungary has also called attention to the massive issues those member states who practiced open borders now have with migrant crime and cultural tensions, with many of these countries now looking to tighten their own borders and even pay arrivals to go back home.
