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Thou Shalt Not Pass? Refugee-Refusing Poland Risks Losing Nordic Support

© AFP 2023 / JANEK SKARZYNSKI Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo (R) and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven attend a press conference after their meeting on June 20, 2017 in Warsaw
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo (R) and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven attend a press conference after their meeting on June 20, 2017 in Warsaw - Sputnik International
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The EU looks determined to crack down on member states that question what Brussels sees as their responsibility to accommodate asylum seekers, and socialist-leaning, refugee-friendly Sweden has threatened to withdraw its support for Poland over its pronounced lack of desire to take in newcomers from the Middle East and Africa.

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While the "conscientious refugee objectors" among the EU nations are now facing EU penalties, Poland also risks losing financial support from Sweden. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven once again sharpened his tone in criticizing Warsaw.

At a meeting with his Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo earlier this week, Löfven came up with a clear message: Poland must begin taking more responsibility for refugees or it could lose international support.

"This is the perennial message to Poland. Everyone has to take responsibility, if we are to remove internal border controls, then this has to work as well. The fact is also that the Swedish people should not be a net contributor to the EU, only to be left alone with the responsibility for refugees. This won't stand," Stefan Löfven said, as quoted by Swedish national broadcaster SVT. He also added that it was impossible for a member state to indulge in "cherry-picking" while ignoring its responsibilities.

During the same meeting, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo ventured that Poland would also like to find a compromise, but cited the widespread resistance to receiving refugees. Two years ago, 25 percent of Poles were opposed to receiving refugees fleeing from war and conflict. Today, 74 percent of Poles say no.

"They say they want to find a solution, but so far, it has not meant actually receiving refugees, which is the core issue," Stefan Löfven said.

Last year, only 390 refugees were granted asylum in Poland, which has a population of 38 million. This is only a fraction of roughly 70,000 asylums granted in Sweden, which has 10 million. The former Polish government reluctantly pledged to receive 7,000 of the refugees to be redeployed from Greece and Italy, but this pledge was later revoked by the very same Beata Szydlo.

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Meanwhile, Poland has taken in a million Ukrainians since the February 2014 coup, and according to a March article in BloombergMarkets, it "can't get enough." Bloomberg noted that in Poland, Ukrainians fleeing war, poverty and the military draft have helped to fuel "a labor market stretched by record-low unemployment and economic growth on track to top 3 percent in 2017." Ironically, many European countries do not see the Ukrainians as refugees, arguing that the conflict in the country is limited to one region. Meanwhile, refugees with official migrant status from the Middle East and North Africa living elsewhere in Europe often lack gainful employment.

"We want to be a homogeneous society with one culture, one religion and one ethnicity. We can see from other European countries how devastating a mix of cultures has been," Mateusz Plawski, spokesman for the Christian nationalist youth movement Mlodziez Wszechpolska ("All-Polish Youth"), which has been protesting the former government's decision, told SVT.

"I do not mean to say that all Muslims are terrorists, but they have a completely different culture that does not fit here. We know how it is. First we only receive a handful, but then there'll be more and more. It's the tyranny of little steps. We hope to avoid receiving even small numbers, for it's the only way to avoid catastrophic development," Plawski continued, adding that a dose of xenophobia was actually good for Poland.

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Plawski ventured that the Polish government will not give in to the EU pressure. Neither was Prime Minister Löfven particularly hopeful about convincing East European "rebels" to take in more refugees.

"If we do not solve this issue, it will harm EU cooperation, which benefits neither Sweden nor Poland," Löfven said.

Sweden's Migration Minister Morgan Johansson called for EU measures against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, venturing that the refugee problem has to be solved jointly.

"Our patience is running out," Morgan Johansson said, as quoted by Swedish Radio.

Earlier this year, Norway also threatened to withdraw its financial subsidies for Poland over financial disagreements. By 2021, Poland is scheduled to receive $882 million from EEA countries, mostly Norway. However, Poland wants the money earmarked for building civic society to be managed by a state-run entity, whereas Norway requires the cash to be handed out by an independent body.

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