Less than five years ago, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska was an ardent proponent of accepting immigrants to Poland. She said that „Poland is a big country” and that it is necessary to create „good conditions for assimilation” for Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Today she has changed her mind by 180 degrees. She claims that the Union’s borders should be protected from immigrants and - as if that were not enough - accuses the Law and Justice party of accepting illegal refugees.

What has happened that Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, an enthusiast of multiculturalism and openness, has suddenly become an opponent of immigrants? The answer to this question is quite simple. The European Union’s policy on immigration has changed. Five years ago, at the peak of the migration crisis, the EU’s policy line was based on the „willkommen politician” announced in Berlin. Germany strongly criticised Viktor Orban’s government, which tried to block the Hungarian border from the flow of thousands of refugees and demanded that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe accept „quotas” of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Ewa Kopacz’s government at the beginning did not agree to accept the refugees, but after the intervention of Berlin it quickly changed its mind, which was one of the reasons for the PO’s poor electoral result in the parliamentary elections in 2015.

From the very beginning, the victorious Law and Justice party was strongly opposed to the immigration quotas imposed by the EU (and in practice by Germany). The hard opposition of the governments of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe proved to be effective - the transfers of refugees from Germany eventually did not take place, although this caused a wave of harsh accusations - the countries of our region were accused of being guided by the lowest instincts: nationalism and racist prejudices. It was also emphasized that we violated the principles of EU solidarity, because although we ourselves benefit from EU aid, we refused when asked for support. The Civic Platform was playing first fiddle in the chorus of critics repeating these allegations. Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska was its prominent activist. No wonder she said what she said.

But now everything has changed. There is no longer a place in the European Union for accepting immigrants. After a bad experience of the „willkommen politician” which almost turned the local political scene upside down, the Germans do not attack anyone today for blocking the migration wave. Turkey, where there are more than 3.6 million refugees today, received 6.6 billion dollars from the Union for blocking the border, and now that Turkish President Recep Erdoğan has decided to raise the stakes and relaunch the wave of refugees, the Union, in the words of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has assured the governments of Greece and Bulgaria of its full support for defending the borders against refugees, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised Athens 700 million euros for this purpose. What a difference to the Union’s previous attacks on Hungary. Five years ago, when the Budapest government tried to stop a wave of immigrants coming from the south, it was criticised by Berlin for this.

Today the wind in Europe is blowing in a different direction. This is not the first time that the Civic Platform shows that it is very sensitive to such climate change. That is why Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska no longer wants to accept refugees to Poland. However, it is difficult to predict where the wind will blow from tomorrow. Therefore, one should not get too much attached to her today’s words.

Konrad Kołodziejski

Tłum. K.J.