The leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, on Thursday confirmed Poland’s rejection of the mechanism for moving migrants between EU countries and announced that a referendum on the issue would be organized in his country, Reuters and Agerpres report.

The European deal, agreed last Thursday by the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JAI), strengthens the rules on the right to asylum in the EU, but also includes mandatory refugee quotas for member states.

The agreement therefore stipulates that EU countries will have to accept a certain number of migrants from member states under migration pressure or pay a financial contribution of around €20,000 for each migrant refused, a contribution described by the interior minister affairs of Poland. Bartosz Grodecki as a “penalty”.

Therefore, Poland and Hungary voted against the agreement, while Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia abstained, but the text was adopted by a qualified majority.

“This issue should be submitted to a referendum, and we will organize this referendum,” said Yaroslav Kaczyński in front of the parliament in Warsaw.

“Polish citizens should have their say in this matter,” added the leader of Poland’s ruling party.

The government led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has already announced that it will not apply new mandatory quotas for refugees, just as it did not apply those that were also approved by a qualified majority in the JAI Council in 2015, especially since in the meantime Poland received 1.5 to 2 million war refugees from Ukraine, although estimates of their exact number vary.

“We will not allow any migration quotas to be imposed on us for refugees from Africa, from the Middle East, for Arabs, Muslims or anyone else,” said the Polish Prime Minister.

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