EU Forcing Poland to Accept Migrants May Make Warsaw Leaving Bloc - EU Lawmaker

"The more the EU twists the arm of the Polish government to accept mandatory migrant quotas, the more they will push them towards first questioning their position within the EU," Raymond Finch said.

The politician added that if Warsaw was not able to "determine its own laws and borders" being a member of the European Union, withdrawal from the bloc could become more attractive.

On Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk said that the incumbent Polish government could take steps aimed at Warsaw's withdrawal from the 28-nation bloc and to hold a referendum similar to the plebiscite held in the United Kingdom in 2016 that resulted in support of Brexit. The politician said that the vote could be held if Poland stopped being the recipient of the EU funds and became a net contributor to the union.

In recent months, Warsaw and Brussels have been engaged in several disputes, including the one over the migrant quota system agreed by the bloc in September 2015 in order to ease the burden of such countries as Greece and Italy. The system implies relocation of migrants and refugees from the states affected by the migration crisis among the EU members. The mechanism has been widely criticized by a number of European states, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

On December 7, the European Commission said it was referring Budapest, Prague and Warsaw to the Court of Justice of the European Union, as these countries had failed to comply with their obligations on the relocation of migrants, after in June, the Commission had launched infringement procedures against the three countries.

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Yet another dispute between Warsaw and Brussels stems around a controversial reform of the Polish judiciary system. Several draft bills have been vetoed by Polish President Andrzej Duda, however, one of them was signed.

Soon after the publication of the new legislation, the European Commission started an infringement procedure against Poland as the law on ordinary courts violated EU legislation regarding judicial independence as well as gender equality, due to different retirement ages for men and women. In December 2017, the European Commission said that it was planning to propose to the Council of the European Union to trigger Article 7(1) of the Treaty on the European Union, against Poland, saying its judicial reforms threaten democratic norms. As a result, Poland's voting rights in the European Union may be suspended.