Polish Prime Minister Praises EU Decision To Abandon Forced Migrant Relocation Scheme

The informal EU summit confirmed that the bloc had abandoned the forced migrant relocation scheme, which is a very positive decision, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2018) The informal EU summit confirmed that the bloc had abandoned the forced migrant relocation scheme, which is a very positive decision, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

Participants of the current EU summit in the Austrian city of Salzburg confirmed that the secondary migration in the European Union posed risks to the Schengen area and called on EU member states to take measures aimed at preventing migrants from moving across the bloc.

"The decisions are very positive for Poland. They say that the reception of any refugees will be on a voluntary basis ... Poland will not be forced to take part in any scheme on reception of refugees," Morawiecki said.

The prime minister pointed out that the decision was made on the initiative of Poland and other three states of the Visegrad Group: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

The Visegrad states have condemned the migrant relocation scheme and refused to accept migrants and refugees, who arrived in other EU member states.

The European Union has been experiencing a large-scale migration crisis since 2015 due to the influx of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing crises in the middle East and North Africa.

During a summit this summer, the European Council agreed on several aspects of the bloc's migration policy, including the establishment of "regional disembarkation platforms in close cooperation with relevant third countries" and controlled centers in the EU member states to process asylum applications. The resettlement or relocation of migrants across the bloc is expected to be done on a voluntary basis amid the lack of consensus.