Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a policy shift on migration at his liberal-conservative Civic Coalition (KO) party congress. “One of the strategy’s elements will be the temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum, and I will demand that Europe recognizes this,” he said. Poland is well aware of how Belarusian leader Lukashenko, Russia’s President Putin, as well as smugglers and human traffickers, have exploited the asylum system to use it against the West. “But this goes against the very essence of the right to asylum.” His country will not respect or implement European plans that threaten Poland’s security. Tusk also mentioned the EU Migration Pact, which Poland, alongside Hungary, had rejected earlier this year.
Tusk’s liberal-conservative government has resumed policies that were previously paused, reinstating a military exclusion zone in June. In light of rising migration numbers at the border, the government sees no alternative: according to Frontex, illegal crossings from Belarus have increased nearly 200 percent this year. On most other European routes, crossings have decreased. According to the border guard, 28,000 people have attempted to enter Poland illegally so far this year, the highest number since 2021. The agency also acknowledges conducting 9,000 pushbacks over the past three years.
For years, Russia has brought refugees into the country with the promise that they could quickly reach the European Union. Instead, they are handed over to smugglers, who, for a high fee, lead them through Belarus to the EU border. The aim is to destabilize the EU. Therefore, Poland has significantly reinforced its border with Belarus and has been pushing back migrants. These people often wander for months, as they are not allowed to re-enter Belarus but are forced back towards Poland. Human rights organizations criticize this practice, noting that many refugees have died as a result. While the border fence has slowed the influx, it has not completely stopped it. Part of the border is made up of the Bug River and swamps, which refugees attempt to cross despite the life-threatening risks. Additionally, there are frequent attempts to tunnel under or climb over the fence, leading to clashes with the Polish border police.
“Poland must be safe, and Poles must feel safe and free,” Tusk stated. He also used the occasion to criticize the migration policy, particularly the “visa scandal” under the previous right-wing PiS government. He claimed that over their eight-year rule, they “lost control over migration” by “paving the way for hundreds of thousands of people from Asia and Africa to enter Poland.” “They built a system that was partly corrupt and enabled a completely uncontrolled, partly even privatized, influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants.” Tusk was referring to an unpublished report from the Supreme Audit Office, excerpts of which were cited by the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. According to the report, more than 366,000 visas were issued for the Schengen area to people from Asia and Africa during the PiS government years, with pressure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Polish consulates to be lax on checks. Bribes were allegedly involved in many cases. There was “an opaque and corrupt mechanism in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to influence consulates,” the Audit Office reportedly stated. Between 2018 and 2023, Poland issued the most visas for the EU, and even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland allowed entry to 1,838 Russian citizens, which contradicted the EU’s sanctions policy.
Tusk announced that he would reduce “illegal migration in Poland to a minimum.” “We will eliminate these practices to regain full control over who enters our country and why.” He cited Germany as a “negative example,” claiming that it failed to integrate refugees and allowed private interests to supersede the public good. Tusk vowed not to allow this in Poland. Rather than continuously bringing in new migrant workers, Tusk promised to attract Poles living abroad back home. “By building an image of a safe country, Poland will become an attractive place for all Poles who want to return,” the prime minister explained. He stated that with the migration strategy he intends to present to the cabinet, Poland will be “not only the coolest but also objectively the safest place in Europe.”
In September, the number of asylum applications rose sharply, partly due to changes in Germany’s policy. Until recently, migrants who managed to cross the border would quickly continue westward. But since Berlin has intensified border checks and began sending migrants back in September, more asylum applications have been filed in Poland.
While the figures are still low compared to many Western European countries, they are rapidly increasing. By the end of September, Warsaw had received 12,300 asylum applications, nearly 5,000 of which were filed since June. In the entire previous year, there were only 9,500 applications. Two-thirds of the applications come from Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians, with only a few hundred filed by Somalis, Eritreans, and Syrians. However, applications from the latter groups have increased significantly in a short time. “When there are too many people from different cultures, locals feel threatened,” Tusk said, setting a hard tone in the asylum debate. Observers suggest this may be part of positioning his party for the 2025 presidential campaign.
The UN, Council of Europe, and non-governmental organizations criticize Poland’s border policies as illegal, noting that migrants at the border have little opportunity to apply for asylum. As the right to asylum has already been limited, it remains unclear how Tusk’s new policy will differ from the current situation. The situation at the border remains tense, with at least 82 migrants and one border guard having died since 2021. Even the reintroduction of the exclusion zone has only temporarily reduced border crossings.
