The anniversary of the elections that drove the populists distant from power, Donald Tusk celebrated to the core with a populist document. To regain control. safety – Migration strategy for the period 2025–2030 It has 36 pages and sounds like it's aimed at a not besides demanding receiver.
What strikes us at first glance is simply a advanced level of generality and clearly expressed fears of the Polish society, which over the years has consistently blown the utmost right hand: that migrants “will pour us down”, take distant our work, tradition and culture, eat benefits, deprive us of a sense of security.
The paper tries to respond to these fears already fueled by the fresh power. Migrants will not come in, even if they effort to impersonate students (the full paper is perplexed with suspicion), the right to work will gotta truly effort and prove that they are needed, and it will be crucial to adapt to Polish norms and customs – this information can be read in Strategies multiple times.
In addition, peculiar police troops will be formed to defender migrants. I hope that this means that there will be more traffic police, due to the fact that the Polish custom, which is most conspicuous and so easy to absorb, is an ostentatious disregard of traffic regulations.
I know, I shouldn't joke. In fact, the Polish strategy is crude, brutal and full of fear must be worrying.
Who's the strategy talking to?
The paper is addressed to respective audiences. In the most superficial layer – to the full society, which the investigation showed, imagines Poland in 10 years as a Poland for Poles, "free" even from Ukrainians. specified fantasies in the last study of the Institute of Political Criticism were even made by voters of the Civic Coalition, or even the Left.
This part of society is expected to calm down: we will regain control, if individual can get in and get approval to work, we will keep an eye on him, and all the confusion with migrants is PiS' fault. The paper devotes a large deal of space to the errors of the far right, scoring the deficiency of a strategy of integration, the visa scandal, the weakness of the barrier or the negotiation of a migration pact.
Information aimed at each another may be received by experts employed in the institutions. Despite the fact that only a week before the strategy was announced, NIK announced the results of the audit of the visa granting mechanics and revealed a immense scale of corruption by officials and intermediaries who took money at various stages of the granting of visas – the government's answer is the thought of digital control. NIK besides showed that the most visas (after refugees from Ukraine) were given to Belarusians and Russians, but the Prime Minister emphasizes issuing visas to African and Asian countries, and by far more than the visa scandal devoted time to the Polish-Belarusian border. Experts have taken as much as they request to do their current policy.
Similarly appreciated for her work may feel the Polish Academy of Sciences, which on behalf of Minister Duszczyk developed a test report conducted for respective months by migration experts. The Polish Academy of Sciences can learn that they have written something that is incomprehensible, besides long, does not give clear answers, so to comfort, as a reward for many months of trouble, the strategy lists the name of the Polish Academy of Sciences document.
There is besides a message for Europe, thanks to which Strategy It has gained a global public, the thought of suspending the right to asylum, which, according to the document, is to be based on the principles of humanitarianism and human rights.
The strategy to combat populism by taking over populist slogans looks more and more like bidding, who will show greater disregard for adopted laws and standards. Olaf Scholz closed the borders, Giorgia Meloni sends migrants to Albania to wait there for asylum – it is always worth destabilizing the neighbouring, weaker country. The effort to send migrants (to Rwanda) has already been made by the United Kingdom, but although it rapidly withdrew from this idea, another countries are trying to imitate it.
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For equally harsh rhetoric, even the French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retaileau, who says straight Kaczynski and Ziobra, claiming that the origin of democracy is The will of the sovereign, the regulation of law is not sacred and a referendum should be held on migration.
Donald Tusk outbid them all, and they were happy. A game without laws and rules opens wide possibilities – especially for the stronger.
Will the dark people buy it?
Right on the anniversary of our election, Frontex published data on migration in 2024. By September, only 166 000 people had crossed the EU borders in an unregulated manner. Compared to 2023, it is simply a 40% decrease.
So there is no exile crisis. The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border is not as dramatic as Tusk says. specified techniques have been utilized by autocrats for years, rather late by Erdoğan, threatening to open borders and let Syrians into Europe. And shortly there will be more specified blackmailers, due to the fact that the Union wants migrants to keep Egypt or Tunisia.
What do politicians play by scaring us with migrants? And what was the consequence of populism in Poland, what fuel drove the popularity of PiS?
The answer is increasing inequality, division into Poland A and B, contempt for “moher berets”, sending Rydzyk's widow a penny to build an empire. Population is driven by mediocre public services, neglecting full regions, neglecting budgets, unfair taxes. Of course, PiS already utilized the migration crisis caused by the war in Syria in 2015 but it was secondary to the basic emotion that was Poland's disappointment.
Inequality is increasing across Europe. The crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, the request to defend ourselves, control to another than fossil energy sources – this brings a sense of uncertainty. But will the return to sovereign policy, the retreat from an open, solidarity-based Europe, as well as the brutality and ruthlessness of migrants supply a solution to the problems?
The past of Poland says that we lost due to the fact that we did not want to modernize, give citizens equal rights, we preferred to look sentimentally back. We're at the same time. The climate is changing, migration will happen.
Demography is another challenge. How do we face this? The paper contains a veiled threat: you do not want migrants, you will gotta work more and longer. We will gotta get Poles out of emigration, activate inactive groups – It's all in strategy.
Xenophobia, chauvinism and inequality have always stood in Poland's way towards development. Tusk is simply a politician, and he knows he must have the majority behind him, even if it is simply a dark people. The migration strategy seems to say: is that what you want? Here you go. Just read with understanding.
