Is a new refugee route through Poland plausible?
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
25.09.2015 16:29
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Michał Owczarek ponders a prospective new route for refugees
Poland has so far been outside the main refugee route leading from Turkey to Western Europe through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and then up north via EU countries.
Refugees and migrants disembark from the ferry 'Eleftherios Venizelos at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, 25 September 2015. EPA/ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU
As Michał Owczarek reports, this might be likely to change soon as German magazine Die Zeit has claimed that refugees might soon choose an alternative route from southern Europe to Germany via Poland.
One of the newspaper’s journalists has posted online a leaflet he had got from refugees while on the Greek island of Kos. It features an alternative route leading through Bulgaria, Romania, western Ukraine and Poland.
“There are obviously both natural and administrative barriers here,” says Patryk Kugiel of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM).
“Firstly, the Bulgarian-Romanian border is a natural boundary.
“Well, crossing the Danube might appear problematic for many, and it’s easy to keep a check on it,” he added.