Polish premier says Poland will defend its eastern border regardless of EU criticism

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday that Poland will defend its eastern border regardless of criticism and cost.

"Its [the eastern border] security will not be the subject of negotiations. With anyone. It is a task to be performed. And my government will perform this task," Tusk wrote in a post on X.

The European Commission has responded to Tusk's weekend proposal to partially suspend asylum rights for irregular migrants after a spike in non-European migrants crossing the border into Poland from Belarus this year. A commission representative said this threatens to "violate the country's obligations in the field of human rights.”

Human rights groups in Poland also criticized Tusk’s comments. Janina Ochojska, founder of the Polish Humanitarian Action and former MEP in Tusk’s own party, slammed this proposal in an interview with Onet. "If the prime minister announces something like this, it means that he is also suspending the Geneva Convention, the Convention on Human Rights and many other conventions and laws. Does this mean that they will not apply in Poland?" she said.

“Human rights groups are people who are out of touch with reality, their level of manipulation and falsehood is incredible,” MEP Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz – also in Tusk's party – told television Polsat News. ​​​​​​

Poland accuses Russia and Belarus of facilitating the movement of migrants across their shared border.