Germany's refugee policy must change 'fundamentally' if EU is to survive, Polish MEP warns

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Germany must change "fundamentally" if the EU is to survive, a senior Polish member of the European Parliament warned in an interview published on Wednesday.

“If Germany continues to behave like it is now, the situation will become increasingly difficult not only for its direct neighbors, but for the entire EU,” Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz told the German monthly magazine Cicero.

Sienkiewicz pointed to three reasons why Polish-German relations have recently deteriorated: lack of German political support for financing defense from EU funds, Berlin’s refugee policy and its recent moves to redeploy controls on the Polish-German border without consulting Warsaw.

“Poland is Germany's fifth largest trading partner ... We expect greater sensitivity and understanding, due to Poland's rank as one of the most important economic partners and as a country that, unlike Germany, is characterized by strong economic growth,” Sienkiewicz said.

The MEP went on to say that migrants receive too much social support in Germany and often without sufficient verification. “We do not understand this policy and now we are its victims, just like other countries that have external EU borders,” he said. Poland has seen large numbers of non-European migrants cross its eastern border with Belarus seeking to transit Poland to get to Germany.

Sienkiewicz said Germany is implementing “a triple outsourcing policy: the US is responsible for its security, Russia for energy, and China is starting to be responsible for its economy. Germany is an economic and technological power, but it is increasingly resembling the Hanseatic League, which collapsed in the 16th century because it was unable to adapt to the changes taking place in the world.”

“Sooner or later, Germany will have to ask itself a question that it stubbornly refuses to answer today: ‘What next, because what is now cannot be maintained.’ The future not only of Germany, but all of Europe depends on the answer. One can imagine the EU without some countries, but not without Germany," the lawmaker added.