The President of Poland has said “There is no doubt the growing wave of terrorism is linked to migration” following the latest terror bombing in London.
Andrzej Duda, who represents the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), was speaking in the Maltese capital of Valetta, where he was attending a meeting of the Arraiolos Group, which brings together presidents of EU member-states.
“If the EU is to employ — in its internal and external relations — far-reaching political correctness, which I would rather call a kind of naivety, then we will not solve this problem,” he warned — a clear swipe at the bloc’s continued efforts to punish conservatives countries in Central Europe which oppose the migrant influx.
Poland reiterated its determination to resist the EU’s attempts to settle migrants on its territory through a mandatory quota system, forced through the European Council by qualified majority, in August 2017.
Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Poland was open to accepting migrants from struggling European countries such as Belarus and Ukraine — issuing 1,267,000 visas to the latter in 2016 — but would not accept migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
Paweł Soloch, who heads the Polish National Security Office, explained the rationale for this decision following the Barcelona terror attacks on August 17th:
“We are convinced by the latest attacks that there is a natural base for terrorists where a large number of poorly integrated Muslims live,” he said bluntly. “I see a growing number of Muslim refugees and a surge of terrorism.”
The Polish government has implored the European Union to change its position on open borders and mass immigration after every major attack on its soil.
After the Barcelona attacks, Polish Deputy Minister of Defence Michał Dworczyk said: “We cannot ignore the fact that we have a serious problem in Europe with the influx of illegal immigrants. It is a very bad idea to invite people who cannot be controlled [and can] be said to pose a threat to EU citizens.”
After the Manchester Arena terror bombing, which mainly targeted children and their parents and took the lives of several Polish nationals, Prime Minister Beata Szydło was even stronger, insisting her country was not going to participate in “the madness of the Brussels elite”.
“Where are you headed, Europe?” she demanded. “Rise from your knees, and from your lethargy, or you will be crying over your children every day.”
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