PM Kopacz stands firm on Polish "NO" to EU migrant quotas

Talking to reporters after an emergency meeting on the refugee crisis with representatives of the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs as well as of border security, she said that Poland will receive as many refugees as it can afford to. "No more, no less," Kopacz said.

She stressed that Poland will talk with its European partners about the migrant crisis, albeit not under the pressure of ‘people camping out in the streets.’

Poland is too important a country within the EU to yield to any pressure, the Polish Prime Minister said.

She voiced a demand for a strong control of EU’s external borders.

Kopacz outlined Poland’s stand in a phone conversation on Monday with the Chairman of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker. "I told him that we would act in solidarity with Europe but, above all, we shall demonstrate prudence and responsibility," the Prime Minister said.

According to last week’s proposal by the European Commission, Poland should accept 9,200 people, in addition to 2,000 already agreed in July.

Deputy Foreign Minister Rafał Trzaskowski has said it is hard to talk about concrete numbers before the end of the negotiations. Talking to reporters in Kraków, Trzaskowski listed three conditions on which Warsaw’s final decision will depend. Poland is ready to receive more migrants if the EU secures its external borders, if it separates whose who need help from economic migrants and if Poland has a say in screening them from the point of security. (km/jh/rk)