Polish PM links London attack to EU migration policy

“I hear in Europe very often: do not connect migration policy with terrorism, but it is impossible not to connect them," Szydło told TVN24.

In 2015, EU leaders decided the bloc’s member states would share the burden of taking in a total of roughly 160,000 asylum seekers, mainly from the Middle East and Africa.

The plan aimed to alleviate pressure on Greece and Italy after the arrival of more than two million migrants, mainly to those countries, amid a refugee crisis which saw illegal immigration figures surge in 2015.

Brussels said Poland should take in some 6,200 of the asylum seekers by September 2017. But the country has not yet accepted any of the refugees.

A day after the 22 March 2016 terrorist attacks on Brussels, Szydło said Poland would not be taking any refugees "for now".

Earlier this week, EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said in Warsaw that the European Commission had “the tools, the means and the power” to ensure EU member states accepted the refugees. So far, only about 14,000 have been resettled from migrant camps in countries along Europe’s Mediterranean coast.

Szydło said: "The commissioner should concentrate on what to do to avoid such acts as yesterday in London ... Poland will not succumb to blackmail such as that expressed by the commissioner”.

Four people died and dozens were injured, including one Pole, in an attack near the British parliament in London on Wednesday.

According to British police, a lone attacker ploughed a car into pedestrians in an “Islamist-related” attack. (vb/pk)

Source: Reuters