EU has no way of imposing sanctions on Poland over migrants: PM

She added that “blackmail” would not force Warsaw to change its mind.

Her comments came after the European Commission on Tuesday threatened to launch procedures against countries which do not accept any migrants by June, and in the wake of a non-binding resolution passed in the European Parliament on Thursday to speed up the process of resettling refugees.

In an interview for Saturday's edition of Poland’s Super Express newspaper, Szydło was asked what measures the EU could take against to Poland for not accepting migrants.

"Nothing,” she replied. “There is no way right now for the EU to impose any sanctions that some politicians have been talking about."

‘Blackmail not a good solution’

She added: "The current threats coming from the EU and directed at Poland among others, are an attempt to mask bad EU decisions and to blame the consequences on member states. Blackmail and threats are not a good solution here.”

Szydło said the EU needs to work out a “good and effective migration policy that will help people. The solution is not endlessly taking in migrants to Europe.”

EU agreement

In September 2015, EU leaders agreed that each country would accept a number of asylum seekers over two years to alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy, which have seen the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East.

EU leaders agreed to relocate a total of about 100,000 refugees of more than two million people who arrived in Europe since 2015.

However, only 14,000 migrants from refugee camps in countries along the Mediterranean coast have been relocated in the EU.

According to the European Commission, only Austria, Poland and Hungary did not accept any people from migrant camps in Italy and Greece, while Malta and Finland are the only countries to have fulfilled their obligations. (pk)

Source: PAP