Poland and Hungary hijack EU summit with anti-migration demands

Poland and Hungary object to a new deal to revamp the European Union’s rules on the reception and relocation of asylum seekers.

The deal, the first breakthrough of its kind in years, was struck earlier this month during a meeting of home affairs ministers and still needs to be negotiated with the European Parliament before entering into force.

The rules were endorsed by a qualified majority, meaning Poland and Hungary, the only two member states who opposed the final draft, were unable to exercise their veto power, as they have previously done in matters of taxation and foreign policy.

This triggered a furious response from Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who brought their grievances to a two-day European summit taking place in Brussels.

After a long day of discussions on Thursday that stretched into the night, Morawiecki and Orbán blocked the summit’s conclusions on migration, forcing leaders to resume the topic on Friday morning.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who supports the migration reform, held a trilateral meeting with the two prime ministers on Friday morning in a bid to break the impasse.

Morawiecki and Orbán want to include an explicit reference to the word “consensus” in the final text, believing the tweak would guarantee that future decisions related to migration will be approved by unanimity.