Polish Foreign Minister Schetyna will not ‘juggle numbers’ on refugees
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
17.09.2015 13:06
Gregorz Schetyna, Poland’s Foreign Minister, was reluctant to disclose how many refugees Poland is able to take on.
A general view shows refugees sleeping in the open air at the Austrian-German border in Freilassing, Germany. Photo: EPA/BARBARA GINDL
“I am unable to answer the question, how many refugees will come to Poland,” Schetyna told Polish Radio on Thursday, adding that he is not willing to "juggle numbers" on the issue.
Grzegorz Schetyna explained a meeting will be held in Brussels next week where “concrete decisions” on the issue will be taken. He explained that the process to decide on the number of immigrants to be taken on by any single member country, will be performed in two steps.
“Internal ministers of EU countries will create an outline which will be prepared for the European Council meeting and the meeting of prime ministers. And that is when the decisions will be taken,” Minister Schetyna said.
Also on Thursday, the European Parliament supported proposals to relocate 120,000 refugees around the European Union in an attempt to aid frontline states of Greece, Hungary and Italy.
According to a recent proposal by the European Commission, Poland should accept 9,200 people, in addition to 2,000 already agreed in July.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Rafał Trzaskowski has said it is hard to talk about concrete numbers before the end of the negotiations.
Talking to reporters in Kraków, Trzaskowski listed three conditions on which Warsaw’s final decision will depend. Poland is ready to receive more migrants if the EU secures its external borders, if it separates whose who need help from economic migrants and if Poland has a say in screening them from the point of security. (rg/rk)
Source: IAR