Analysis regarding question in upcoming Polish national referendum by Dr. Marta Pachocka, PI in GAPs project at the Centre of Migration Research of the University of Warsaw
Dr. Marta Pachocka, PI of the Polish team of the Horizon Europe GAPs, at the Centre of Migration Research of the University of Warsaw, prepared a short analysis regarding one of the questions to be included in the national referendum, by the Polish government. The referendum is scheduled for the same day as the parliamentary elections, on October 15,2023.
The full version of the analysis entitled “Relocations - the referendum in Poland in 2023 and the asylum policy of the European Union” was published in Polish on October 11, 2023, on the website of the Batory Foundation, and can be accessed from below link:
Brief summary in English
Poland will hold its next parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023. However, a nationwide referendum was scheduled for the same day. Four referendum questions were formulated, including two relating to migration management and state migration policy, as follows:
"Do you support the removal of the barrier on the border between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus?"
"Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, in accordance with the forced relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?".
In the analysis, I devote attention to the latter question, which relates directly to the European context and, more precisely, to the European Union and its asylum policy. I argue that the referendum question mentioned above is phrased incorrectly, and I retrace the evolution of the relocation mechanism within the EU asylum policy from 2015 to 2023. I also present the basics of EU asylum policy and the principles of the new EU solidarity mechanism commenting on the situation in Poland. I conclude that membership of the European Union implies observance of EU law, including as regards asylum issues. According to the analysis, I point out that it is unreasonable to blame an abstract entity such as 'European bureaucracy' for imposing solutions that are currently the subject of negotiations with the EU institutions (in which Poland has its representatives with the right to vote). Poland - by agreeing in Lisbon on the development of the EU asylum policy under new rules based on majority voting in the Council, in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure - will be bound by legal acts adopted by the EU bodies even with its objections, regardless of whether they are expressed in the course of voting in the EU legislative process or during a national referendum. Rather than criticizing the solidarity mechanism at national level, it would be more effective for Poland to contribute to the creation of a more favorable solution taking into account (when determining how the solidarity mechanism works) the responsibilities of Poland's reception of forced migrants from Ukraine.
Other experts and researchers in the field of European law and migration studies were consulted for this analysis, including PhD candidate Mateusz Krępa and Dr Tomasz Sieniow from Horizon Europe GAPs team, and Prof. Aleksandra Szczerba, PhD candidates - Ksenia Naranovich and Monika Szulecka.