Poland’s new government won’t accept migrant quotas imposed by the European Union, as the terror attacks in France have exposed the weakness in the bloc, the nation’s future minister for European affairs said.
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A few of the Paris attackers were overheard telling hostages the attacks were in retaliation for France’s bombing of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Security concerns are high among the reasons touted by Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which don’t want to accept predominantly Muslim refugees on their soil.
“The decision of the European Council that we criticised – to allow refugees and immigrants relocation to all EU countries – still has the status of binding EU law”, Konrad Szymanski wrote in an article for the wPolityce website.
Whether the passport reportedly recorded by migration officials on the Greek island of Leros more than a month earlier was that of a terrorist infiltrator or one of the thousands of counterfeits sold on black markets is unknown, – and probably likely irrelevant.
In the Netherlands, anti-Islam far-right leader Geert Wilders called on the government to close Dutch borders immediately, accusing the authorities of being in denial about connections between immigration and terrorism.
Mark Rutte, a centre-right liberal, announced a tightening of border checks and said the Dutch too were “at war” with Islamic State, but added: “We are not at war with a country, a belief or with Islam”.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned against equating the latest terrorist attack in Europe with the peaceful migrants to for whom Europeans should be welcoming and supportive. Many eastern members, however, have strongly opposed the quotas, saying they could not afford taking the shares in the face of huge internal oppositions and low finances.
“We have been saying that there are enormous security risks linked to migration”.
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A protester holds a sign which reads “I am a refugee” during a demonstration to welcome refugees in front of the Mikolaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) monument in Warsaw, Poland September 12, 2015. The new PiS government is set to be inaugurated on Monday. The decision was condemned by the country’s ruling nationalist party. “The throat cutters and Islamic terrorists should be ELIMINATED with force!”
