With the landing of 8,500 refugees on the Italian island in recent days, the PIS, the ruling party in Poland, is trying to take advantage of it, in the middle of the electoral campaign. The legislative elections will be held on October 15.
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From our correspondent in Warsaw,
This is the favorite subject of the PIS, the party in power: to scare with immigration which would put Poland on fire and blood according to the current government. The party immediately reacted on X, (formerly Twitter). He published a video with images of the arrival of refugees on the island of Lampedusa accompanied by the most distressing music.
The PIS wants to scare. He talks about an army of migrants invading Europe. And who will invade Poland if the opposition wins the elections. An invasion which would be accompanied by rapes, drug trafficking, fights between ethnic gangs. And that only the PIS could avoid, while the party is in the running for a third consecutive and historic mandate during the parliamentary elections of October 15.
Read alsoMigrants: a film sows discord in the electoral campaign in Poland
The PIS wants to limit immigration as much as possible. Everything is done to accept almost no illegal refugees. And we can see it clearly border with Belarus where those who manage to cross the wall are pushed back or put in these monitored centers. But the big mission of the PIS at the moment is to refuse the new European refugee relocation program. This is why the ruling party organized a referendum in parallel with the October 15 vote. Voters will have to decide for – or against – the new European plan. The PIS is campaigning for Poles to say no. Otherwise Warsaw will become Lampedusa or a “suburb of Paris” where chaos would reign because of immigration, to use the words of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The Schengen visa scandal
At the start of the week, the government even adopted a new resolution which blames Brussels for encouraging illegal migrants to come to Europe. Warsaw accuses Brussels while for several days the ruling party has been mired in a visa scandal. Journalists discovered that the PIS was giving visas in exchange for bribes to refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. And the PIS seems caught at its own game.
Read alsoThe Polish government at the center of a visa trafficking scandal one month before the legislative elections
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly received up to $40,000 to authorize, without any verification, multiple entry Schengen visas. The ministry sends a list of names to the consulate in another country, and like magic, visas are granted. When we know the anti-immigration discourse of the Polish government, we understand the unease that has reigned since then.
The European Union hopes that this matter will be clarified quickly. The European Commission has demanded explanations from Polish leaders and wants answers before October 3.