Incoming Minister Puts EU Refugee Intake Program In Jeopardy After Paris Attacks

The incoming Polish Minister for European Affairs — Konrad Szymanski has termed the E.U. decision to accept refugees from Syria as naively idealistic following the Friday Paris attacks. According to Reuters, Konrad, who takes up office on Monday stated on Saturday, during a briefing that the attacks necessitate a greater revision of policies concerning the current refugee crisis in Europe. The continent is grappling with the around 800,000 immigrants who entered the bloc this year, mainly from the Middle East and Africa.

The incoming minister also added that Poland wanted some guarantees before taking any more refugees, saying, “We’ll accept [refugees] if we have security guarantees. This is a key condition, and today a question mark has been put next to it all around Europe.”

In September, the country’s pro-E.U. government decided to support the E.U.’s plan to share 120,000 refugees among 28 countries, with Poland set to take 4,500 of them. This was in addition to the 2,000 it had already taken. Speaking to RMF FM radio, Konrad stated, “The [quota] decision is valid for all EU countries, but its implementation is very hard to imagine today.” According to DW, Konrad had also stated the following on the country’s right wing site, wpolityce.pl.

“The decisions by the EU Council that were criticized by us over the resettlement of refugees and migrants in all EU states are of a binding nature. However in the face of the tragic events in Paris, we see no political possibility of implementing them. Poland must retain complete control of its borders, as well as its asylum and migration policy.”

That said, the recent attacks in Paris have had a profound effect on Parisians and civilized people across the world and have been viewed by many, especially in the western world as a wake-up call. The attacks which occurred simultaneously across half a dozen locations left approximately 130 people dead and about 350 injured. At the Bataclan concert hall where there was a concert by Eagles of Death Metal — an American band, at least 89 people were killed after the gunmen entered the vicinity and began firing at revelers with automatic weapons. The following is a description of horror that night by a survivor.

“At first we thought it was part of the show but we quickly understood. They didn’t stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. We heard screaming. Everyone was trying to flee.”

Check Video of Paris Attack below

The witness and his friends hid in the lavatory and could hear the terrorists shouting, “It’s the fault of Hollande, it’s the fault of your president, he should not have intervened in Syria.” Another witness described the resolve of the gunmen saying, “We heard so many gunshots and the terrorists were very calm, very determined and they reloaded three or four times.” This is as reported by Yahoo News.

The events that unfolded on Friday have forced some governments currently thinking of taking in Syrian refugees to begin second-guessing themselves after one of the attackers was suspected to be a Syrian refugee. This was after his passport was found at a crime scene. According to CNN News, he is said to have arrived on the shores of Greece on October 3, among Syrian refugees and told E.U. refugee authorities that his name was Ahmad al-Mohammad.

He is alleged to have been issued with an emergency passport. However, the Serbian Interior minister identified the suspect as a refugee who had also sought asylum in his country after having crossed in from Greece on October 7. This is according to BBC News. As events unfold, one of the attackers said to be from Belgium is alleged to have escaped and French police are on the hunt for him.

[Photo by Matt Cardy / Getty Images]