“Those who advocate for a quota system and the reception of illegal migrants want to bring about a humanitarian crisis in Poland,” Dominik Tarczyński, Member of the European Parliament for the Polish governing conservative party, Law and Justice (PiS) said in a video posted on social media platform, X. The politician recently visited Lampedusa, a small Italian island, which is the nearest European destination for migrants making their way across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya or Tunisia. Lampedusa has been heavily burdened by waves of illegal migrants ever since the start of the European migration crisis in 2015. The number of people crossing the sea with the help of smugglers has significantly increased in the past few months, and a record-breaking number of illegal migrants, 5,000 arrived in one given day last week. The island, whose population is just around 6,000 people, is being overwhelmed.
In a series of videos posted on social media, Tarczyński expressed deep concerns about the situation, and attributed the crisis to the “reckless policies of the European Union.” He emphasised that the Law and Justice Party would not tolerate a similar humanitarian crisis on its soil.
In a recent fiery speech given in the European Parliament, Tarczyński said:
So don’t give us this rubbish about the need of educated immigration, as we heard yesterday. We don’t need your doctors. We don’t need your engineers. Take them all and pay for them. We don’t need them. You know why? Because there are zero terrorist attacks in Poland. Why? Because there is no illegal migration in Poland.
He also warned the leftist critics of the conservative Polish government that in recent parliamentary, presidential, local, and European elections, the “Polish nation rejected you, dear leftists, eight times. Eight times in a row you have lost elections in Poland. So get used to it, because you’re going to lose again.”
Poland will hold parliamentary elections in just under a month, on October 15th, and PiS—which has been in power since 2015—is focusing on migration in its campaign, pointing out the dangers of the EU’s plans to redistribute migrants to member states under a quota system. A referendum will be held on the same day, and one of the questions will ask voters whether they “support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, in accordance with the forced relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also criticised the West, especially the “disastrous policy” of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which has led to a “massive invasion” of immigrants from Africa. “Fear, chaos, riots, vandalisation of cities. This is what Western Europe looks like today. We don’t want this sort of thing in Poland,” he said in a video posted on X.
The video shows the leader of the opposition, former liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk hugging Merkel. During his tenure in government, Tusk sought a much closer relationship with Germany and France and weakened ties with the V4 Central European alliance. He is a frequent target of the current Polish government, and Morawiecki believes if Tusk were to come to power again, he would admit as many illegal immigrants to Poland as Germany wants. Tusk recently called the referendum “invalid in the deepest and broadest sense”.
PiS’s campaign has been somewhat overshadowed by revelations that Poland’s consular sections have issued about 250,000 visas to migrants from Asia and Africa since 2021 in return for bribes of several thousand dollars each. “This case is ruining our country’s reputation as a responsible member of the democratic community of the free world and jeopardises our security, therefore it must be explained in detail,” Tomasz Grodzki, leader of the Senate, a member of Tusk’s party said.
Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau has ordered an extraordinary audit of the ministry’s consular department and all of Poland’s consular missions.
According to the latest polls, Law and Justice is leading the pack of parties with 37%, while the alliance led by Donald Tusk, Civic Coalition could get 29% of the votes. PiS may not be able to govern alone and may be forced to enter a coalition with right-wing party Confederation, which has 11% of the support.
