Referendum: Poland’s ruling party intends to seek voters’ opinion in a referendum if they are in support of “thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa” as part of a European Union relocation plan, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday.
The Prime Minister announced the referendum question in the latest video published on social media, as his conservative party seeks to stave off a challenge from the political opposition.
The declaration suggested that his party, Law and Justice, is seeking to rake up the migration issue in his general election campaign. Notably, the issue played a significant role in taking power in 2015.
What did the government say earlier?
The government has previously said it wants to hold the referendum alongside the fall parliamentary election, scheduled for October 15. Leaders have announced two other questions lately.
Morawiecki said that the question would say: “Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa under the forced relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
In June this year, European Union interior ministers approved of a plan to share out responsibility for migrants entering Europe without authorisation, the root of one of the bloc's longest-running political crises.
The ministers endorsed a deal balancing the obligation for countries where most migrants arrive to process and lodge them against the requirement for other members to provide support, whether financial or by hosting refugees.
Law and Justice has had a long conflict with the 27-member European Union over the bloc’s opinion that the Warsaw government's changes to the judiciary and media would cause democratic erosion.
The asylum system of Europe collapsed eight years ago after more than a million people entered with most of them fleeing conflict in Syria.
Their entry overwhelmed reception capabilities in Greece and Italy in the process sparking one of the EU's biggest political crises.
The 27 EU nations have bickered ever since over which countries should take responsibility for people arriving without authorisation, and whether other members should be obliged to help them cope.
(With AP inputs)
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