Germany to limit contributions to EU if Poland doesn't accept migrants: SPD chief
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
05.01.2018 14:00
The head of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) has said that Berlin will limit its contributions to the next European Union budget if Poland and Hungary do not help resolve the bloc's migrant crisis.
Martin Schulz, pictured in Berlin on January 3. Photo: EPA/OMER MESSINGER
Martin Schulz, whose SPD won the second highest number of votes in general elections in Germany last year, told the German Bild daily that Berlin was footing a hefty bill for the migrant crisis while some countries have refused to take in migrants.
But Zdzisław Krasnodębski, a member of the European Parliament from Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, said Schulz's comments showed his “aspirations to dictate how other countries should behave”.
Krasnodębski said Germany did not contribute to the European Union's budget out of generosity but because it is obliged to under the bloc's rules.
The European Commission has launched a case against Poland and Hungary, which have refused to accept refugees under an EU programme to relocate migrants fleeing the war-torn Middle East and Africa from camps in Italy and Greece.
Humanitarian aid
Polish officials have repeatedly said that Poland is supporting those in need by increasing humanitarian aid to the victims of the war in Syria and by working with aid organisations to rebuild hospitals.
Poland’s previous Prime Minister Beata Szydło has said that helping in this way is not only cheaper but more effective, whereas EU migration policy was not putting a stop to additional waves of migrants to Europe.
(vb/pk)