Poland leads 'race to the bottom' in EU's dwindling asylum offer

Polish PM Donald Tusk plans to suspend right to asylum amid 'biggest border crisis in many years'

Polish officers guard a fence on the border with Belarus, an illegal migration route to the EU. AFP

Poland on Tuesday defended controversial plans to suspend the right to asylum amid warnings of a “race to the bottom” in Europe's willingness to accept refugees.

Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Poland was experiencing its “biggest border crisis in many years” as thousands of people enter the country from Belarus, many of them from Syria and Somalia. The former Soviet state is suspected of working with Russia to orchestrate the flow of migrants and destabilise Europe.

The EU was debating tougher policies including asylum processing centres in third countries, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for Europe to stand “fair and firm on migration”. She said the crisis on the border with Belarus needed a “clear and determined European response”.

But Poland is opting for the go-it-alone response presented to the cabinet by Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday. It aims to make the border “impassable for illegal migrants”. Mr Tusk said the right to asylum was being used “contrary to its essence”, at the behest of Belarus and Russia.

Hungary and the Netherlands have also sought to beat their own path with strict asylum policies and opt-outs from EU rules on sharing out refugees. Germany is exploring its legal options amid calls to turn away asylum seekers at the border and deport them to Syria for the first time in more than a decade.

Poland's proposed step to suspend asylum altogether is “probably the most radical that could be taken”, said Bernd Parusel, an asylum expert and former adviser on migration policy in Sweden. “It is a very significant and also very controversial step, because it is quite apparently against international and EU law.

“We're seeing a kind of race to the bottom in Europe when it comes to asylum seekers” as countries tighten their border policies and try to become less attractive destinations, Mr Parusel told The National. “This is an ongoing trend in Europe where the right to asylum is questioned more and more.”

The EU's executive said it was “important and imperative” to protect borders with Russia and Belarus, but said Poland had duties to let asylum seekers plead their case. “Member states have international and EU obligations, including the obligation to provide access to the asylum procedure,” a European Commission spokeswoman said.

Anyone has the right to apply for asylum in a country that has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, which Poland has, said Prof Sarah Singer of the University of London's Refugee Law Initiative. She said EU law gives Poland more specific obligations to examine all asylum claims.

There is legal provision for deadlines to be extended in exceptional circumstances when there is a large number of asylum seekers, but authorities are not allowed to completely deny people the right to apply for asylum, she said.

Poland argues the right to asylum is “being used precisely contrary to its essence” by Russia and Belarus. EU border guards have detected more than 13,000 people entering the bloc this year from Belarus, an increase of almost 200 per cent, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

Mr Tusk's policy shake-up includes bringing forward the construction of border fortifications as part of a 700km “East Shield”. He also hopes to attract Polish expats back home on the grounds that “soon they will earn as much as they earn in England, and the place is nicer”.

EU revamp

The EU had hoped to settle the asylum question with a hard-fought deal last year to revamp the system. The idea is for long-shot asylum seekers to be turned away more swiftly, in return for migrants being shared around Europe with €20,000 ($21,000) penalties for each one not taken in.

But the new rules have yet to come force and the solo initiatives by Poland, Hungary and others such as Finland have thrown the plans into doubt. In a letter to EU member states before their Tuesday meeting, Ms von der Leyen said the bloc should “accelerate the implementation” of the new pact.

“This pact was so difficult to negotiate and get adopted,” Mr Parusel said, “but there are obviously several countries that are directly or indirectly questioning this, adopting measures that go quite far beyond what the pact makes possible.”

Some European countries want to use a leaders' summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to reinvigorate the pact, pushing for a joint statement that would call for its implementation. But it "might be difficult" for those who who voted against the deal to agree to such language, an EU official said.

Beyond the asylum compromise, Ms von der Leyen said Brussels should strike new migration deals with third countries as she credited EU-backed efforts by Libyan and Tunisian anti-smuggling authorities with cutting Mediterranean Sea crossings. Engagement with Egypt, Morocco and Algeria is a “high priority”, she said.

Ms von der Leyen gave potential backing to the idea of “return hubs”, an EU euphemism for deportation centres, in third countries. She said the bloc could “draw lessons” from Italy's migration centres in Albania, which have just taken in their first group of asylum seekers.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also agreed to explore the idea of processing asylum claims abroad, while warning of legal and practical issues with the idea. Berlin recently carried out its first deportation to Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power.

Several countries have brought in temporary checks at the EU's internal frontiers, meaning that almost two thirds of “open” Schengen borders are now patrolled by guards. Germany widened checks to its entire land border after a spate of Islamist attacks and a surge in far-right support.

One leader taking a different tack is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who hailed the benefits of migration in a speech last week in which he announced various policies to help foreign workers settle in Spain.

Immigration is “not just a question of humanitarianism,” Mr Sanchez said in a speech to parliament. “It's also necessary for the prosperity of our economy and the sustainability of the welfare state … the key is in managing it well.”