A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that Brussels will take legal action against member states who refuse or fail to fully implement the Migration Pact, including its mandatory solidarity mechanism of migrant relocations, and Poland is no exception.
The clarification came a week after press reports pointed out the awkward silence from the EU Commission when Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak reiterated liberal PM Donald Tusk’s earlier remarks that implementing the Pact was “not possible.”
Siemoniak pointed at the large number of Ukrainian refugees living in Poland (who are not covered by the Migration Pact) and said that the solidarity mechanism—giving member states the choice between accepting a certain number of migrants or paying €20,000 per migrant each year—was an “additional burden” that the country will not accept:
Irrespective of who says that [we should implement the Pact], my response is Poland will not accept an additional burden. Full stop.
The Commission’s initial inability to address this comment was not too surprising, given that Tusk has been a key ally of von der Leyen’s for years, and Brussels has been celebrating his takeover of Poland despite the blatant rule of law violations associated with his “transitional justice” (i.e., lawfare and persecution) targeting the conservative opposition.
However, after media outlets had been speculating for a week, the Commission was forced to clarify its position. “Once adopted, EU law is binding in all concerned member states,” the spokesperson said on Monday.
If a member state risks delaying or even undermining the implementation of the Pact, the Commission will need to take the necessary measures.
PM Donald Tusk did not immediately respond to this statement, but former PM Mateusz Morawiecki (PiS) did, saying that the government’s “lies” that it can get away with not implementing the Pact due to Ukrainian refugees have been “exposed.”
The Morawiecki-led previous PiS government has been one of only two countries that voted against the Pact, while five countries abstained. This means the Pact was adopted by only 20 countries, yet it’s binding for all 27—which was only made possible by breaking it into five segments and pushing those through at the ministerial level, where no unanimity is required.
Ever since Tusk made resistance against the solidarity mechanism a core campaign issue back in 2024, PiS leaders have been saying that he never intended to carry through with the threats, and will eventually cave by paying the enormous sums, if not accepting migrant relocations outright.
Morawiecki reiterated this assumption, saying that Tusk’s “heroic” stance against the Pact will end as soon as the upcoming presidential elections are over:
I really don’t want to be a bad prophet in my own country, but in a few months, I expect only one thing—explanations that although the authorities really wanted to oppose the relocation of migrants, unfortunately, they were unable…
To już oficjalne. Kłamstwa Tuska obnażyła sama Komisja Europejska, która zapowiada, że jeżeli Polska nie zastosuje się do paktu migracyjnego, wobec naszego kraju zostaną wyciągnięte konsekwencje prawne.
— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) March 12, 2025
Wedle @EUinPL jeżeli państwo członkowskie Unii Europejskiej grozi… pic.twitter.com/1Gty8dTx6r
