Poland's prime
minister drew a link on Thursday between an attack in London targeting the
British parliament and the European Union's migrant policy, saying the
assault
vindicated Warsaw's refusal to take in refugees.
Five people,
including the attacker, were killed and about 40 injured on Wednesday after a
car plowed into pedestrians near the British parliament. Police believe the
attack was "Islamist-related", but have given no details about the
attacker, who they say was acting alone.
Poland's
right-wing, eurosceptic government has refused to accept any of the 6,200
migrants allocated to it under the European Union's quota scheme that is
designed to share the burden of taking in the large numbers of migrants and
refugees who have come to Europe over the past two years.
"I hear
in Europe very often: do not connect the migration policy with terrorism, but
it is impossible not to connect them," Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo
told private broadcaster TVN24.
Earlier this
week the EU's migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, on a visit to
Warsaw, warned member states against failing to host refugees to help alleviate
pressure on frontline states bearing the brunt of arrivals across the
Mediterranean.
"The
commissioner should concentrate on what to do to avoid such acts as yesterday
in London ... Poland will not succumb to blackmail such as that expressed by
the commissioner," Szydlo said.
"The
commissioner is coming to Warsaw and trying to tell us: you have to do what the
EU decided, you have to take these migrants .... Two days later another
terrorist attack in London occurs," she said.
The leader of
Szydlo's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said back in
2015 that refugees could bring diseases and parasites to Poland, which is
staunchly Roman Catholic and has very few Muslim immigrants.
The migrant
issue is just one of several over which Poland is at odds with the EU.
Also on
Thursday Szydlo said Poland might not accept a declaration EU leaders are due
to endorse in Rome this month that will chart the bloc's course after Britain
leaves unless it addresses issues Warsaw considers crucial.
*REUTERS*
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