Poland is to suspend its participation in the so-called Dublin migration regulations, prompting a warning from Brussels that such a unilateral step must be “temporary, necessary, proportionate and well-defined”.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said his country “will not accept migrants from other European countries” under the so-called Dublin system, which makes the first European Union (EU) member state an asylum seeker enters responsible for their case.
“If not everyone understands us, then to be honest I will not cry about it,” said Mr Tusk, citing burdens on his country related to the Ukraine war.
Meanwhile, Polish president Andrzej Duda has signed into law a bill that will suspend the right to claim asylum for anyone it views as part of the “instrumentalisation of migration”, in particular on its border with Belarus.
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Since 2021, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers – mostly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – have been taken to Belarus’s border with Poland, often with the assistance of the Belarusian authorities. Many of those who succeed in crossing into Poland continue to Germany.
Mr Tusk said Poland’s unilateral decision will nullify a recent agreement with Berlin to take back so-called Dublin cases, for which Germany built special deportation centres on its eastern border.
Since taking office in December 2023, the Tusk government has ramped up his migration rhetoric and spent about three billion zloty (€716 million) on securing its eastern frontier.
[ Deportation reforms criticised as ‘new low’ for European UnionOpens in new window ]
“We have achieved almost one hundred per cent effectiveness in blocking illegal crossings,” he said recently on the social media platform X. “Poland has regained control of its borders!”
Ahead of a new pan-EU migration and asylum pact, due to come into effect next year, Mr Tusk has stated repeatedly that his government will not accept asylum seekers from other member states or pay financial contributions instead of taking them.
His latest migration move comes seven weeks before Poland’s high-stakes presidential election first round, with migration a key battleground issue between government and opposition candidates.
Belarus asylum bill secured an overwhelming majority from government and opposition MPs in parliament last month. It has been criticised as a violation of EU and international law by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the Polish human rights commissioner.
Data from the EU’s Frontex border agency shows that, in the first two months of 2025, 692 migrants crossed irregularly the border between Belarus and Poland-Lithuania, mostly Ukrainians and Russians.
Asked on Thursday if this justified Poland’s border restrictions, a European Commission spokesman said it was aware of the pressures Poland was facing in the context of weaponised migration on its border with Belarus.
“We are in close contact with the Polish authorities to assess the provisions of this law,” the spokesman said, “and will continue the dialogue also concerning the implementation of the law”.”
