Poland urges EU to adopt its border asylum suspension model

In March 2025 Poland ceased recording asylum applications from migrants arriving from Belarus, labeling the step a temporary emergency response to what it described as a Russian-supported effort to flood the EU with people. Eighteen months later the suspension remains, and Deputy Interior Minister for migration Maciej Duszczyk is urging the 27-nation bloc to permit comparable temporary halts of asylum processing whenever “instrumentalised” mass migration occurs.

The call gained traction after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the Commission will soon propose an “emergency response framework” granting flexibility to standard migration rules in such cases, though the exact procedures have not been disclosed. Critics, including Dutch MEP Tineke Strik and Council of Europe human-rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty, argue the proposal could legitimize the Polish model and undermine the core right of asylum seekers to be heard, risking violations of non-refoulement.

Polish officials maintain vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children can still apply, a claim disputed by NGOs like the Association for Legal Intervention. Further details are expected at an interior ministers’ summit on Oct. 1 and a European Council meeting later that month.