Hungary and Poland stood together to reject the European Union's proposed migration reform that threatened to derail the Granada summit involving the region's leaders.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki both shot down a proposed statement for inclusion in a document on the Granada summit's conclusion on Friday. The situation forced European Council President Charles Michel to issue a separate statement in his name.
Hungary and Poland Reject EU Migration Policy
He talked about asylum policy and border protection and noted that the French and German leaders said that the legislative process on the issue would still move forward as planned. Additionally, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who hosted the summit, dismissed concerns about the situation.
Sanchez added that the most important thing is what their interior ministers achieved just a few weeks ago with the agreement on crisis regulation. He argued that this is because that is what is relevant in political terms, as per Aljazeera.
However, the Granada summit did give Morawiecki, facing a general election this weekend, and Orban a stage to brandish populist credentials for their domestic audiences. The Polish prime minister boasted that his veto of the joint statement on migration meant that the process would not be able to move forward.
On the other hand, the Hungarian prime minister compared accepting refugees to sexual assault. Orban noted that the migration agreement is impossible politically, not just today, but for the next few years.
He argued that this is because legally, the region is, as he said, "we are raped." He questioned the desire for a compromise during this kind of situation. The bloc of European nations has continued to be divided on addressing irregular migration in the region.
So far this year, roughly 250,000 people have arrived beyond regular border crossings to the EU, home to about 450 million people. According to Reuters, Berlin, Madrid, and Rome all voiced their concern about increasing irregular migration, which is a politically sensitive matter.
Addressing Irregular Migration
Morawiecki also accused Germany and Poland's opposition leader of collaborating to push new EU laws that would fine countries if they refused to host people from the Middle East and Africa. He said that his country does not agree with someone else furnishing its home.
This week, 22 out of the 27 member nations of the EU agreed on ways to handle irregular immigration at times of significantly high arrivals. It was a step forward to reforming the bloc's inefficient asylum and migration rules.
In response to Hungary and Poland's actions, EU leaders agreed to remove a 119-word paragraph related to the bloc's general pledges on migration from the text of a final communique concluding their summit in Granada.
They instead adopted a "Granada declaration" on other issues that included an overall strategy for the bloc in the years to come. The Guardian said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also played down Hungary and Poland's objections to the statement, saying that there was still "broad support" at the summit for the proposed laws.
