On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski dismissed the notion that the proposal to hold a referendum on admitting migrants concurrently with the upcoming parliamentary elections was a novel idea. Speaking on Radio Wnet, Jablonski revealed that the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, could potentially vote on the motion to combine the migrant referendum with the elections as early as July.
The concept of the referendum was initially introduced by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice, the dominant political party in Poland’s governing coalition, last week. The timing of this idea appears to be a response to the European Union’s (EU) recent proposals to enforce migrant quotas among member states.
Jablonski emphasized that holding both the referendum and the election on the same day would not be unprecedented, as similar situations have occurred in the past. He expressed the urgency of the matter, stating that they cannot afford to wait due to the swift progress of EU procedures in this case.
Poland is scheduled to hold its general election this autumn, making it an opportune time for the proposed referendum to coincide with the parliamentary elections. The Polish government has consistently voiced its strong opposition to the EU’s quota plans on multiple occasions. Just last Thursday, the Sejm passed a resolution in protest against the obligatory quotas imposed by the EU.