Hungary and Poland revolt against EU migration

Hungary and Poland blocked the adoption of the European Council's conclusions on migration and left the matter to be resolved for a second attempt today.

This happened an hour after midnight on the first day of the EU summit in Brussels.

No one could placate the Prime Ministers of Hungary and Poland. The efforts of even European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have been in vain. The expected press conference at the end of the first day did not take place either.

Conclusions were adopted only on Ukraine and on security and defense. For today, in addition to migration, China, the economy and foreign relations remained to be discussed.

Both Orban and Morawiecki were adamant that they consider the EU's approach to migration unacceptable. And they vowed that there would be no conclusions on the matter until the concerns of Budapest and Warsaw were taken into account.

The two countries are against, above all, the displacement of migrants around the EU. This condition is included in the agreement reached at the beginning of the month between the member countries. Negotiations with the European Parliament are pending. The deal is expected to lead to stricter asylum procedures at borders for migrants deemed unlikely to be accepted. Member states will be faced with the choice of either accepting a certain number of migrants per year or paying into a common EU fund 20,000 euros for each one they refuse to accept.

Hungary and Poland are against mandatory displacement. Orban and Morawiecki also criticized the way the agreement was adopted - with a qualified majority. It was approved by the votes of 21 out of a total of 27 members.

Orban and Morawiecki have asked for a joint statement to be adopted, according to which decisions on EU migration should be taken only by unanimity, diplomats said.

The agreement will not be canceled, assured Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo and other leaders.

According to some leaders, Orban and Morawiecki did not even want this European Council to adopt conclusions on the issue.

The revolt of Hungary and Poland certainly led to one result, diplomatic sources commented. And it is that from now on, migration will become a topic of every European Council, just as Ukraine is now, and as before it was the COVID-19 pandemic.

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