POLAND TO RE-ADMIT REFUGEES ENTERED ILLEGALLY INTO GERMANY FROM ITS TERRITORY
In exchange against financial aid Poland has finally accepted the demand by the German government that it re-admit unwanted immigrants having entered into Germany via Poland. An agreement was signed in Bonn on 7 May by the German and the Polish Interior Ministers, Rudolf Seiters and Andrzej Milczanowski. The agreement opened the way for the adoption of new legislation further restricting the right of political asylum in an attempt to reduce the number of refugees.
By the agreement Poland binds itself to take back all refugees and migrants refused entry by Germany. The number of such unwanted aliens is expected to rise massively once new German asylum legislation voted on 26 may will come into force on 1 July. According to the new German asylum policy, any person having arrived via a neighbour country considered as "safe", i.e. having signed international conventions on refugees, may be deported without further procedure. This means no less than that it will be come virtually impossible for refugees to enter into germany via its land borders. The "safe country" regulation will also apply to Switzerland, Austria and quite certainly to the Scandinavian countries. The social-democrat opposition had accepted this measure only on condition that it was accompanied by special agreements with the countries through which the biggest part of immigration reaches Germany - in particular Poland and the Czech Republic. These refugees will be refused access to the asylum procedure.
The agreement reached with Poland stipulates that the German authorities may hand over to the Polish within a period of 6 month after his arrival any person having entered Germany illegally via Polish territory. In exchange, Bonn will grant Poland 120 million Deutschmarks in aid for 1993 and 1994. This sum is to enable the Polish government to set up or modernise reception camps and to improve the control of its borders.
Source: Le Monde, 9/10.5.93.