European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said he opposes cutting funds from the EU’s next budget for countries like Poland which have refused to take in refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

Juncker’s comments, in an interview with Belgian broadcaster RTBF, came after Martin Schulz, the head of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), said last week that Berlin would limit its contributions to the next European Union budget if Poland and Hungary did not help resolve the bloc's migrant crisis.

The European Commission last month took Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to the top EU court for refusing to accept migrant quotas.

Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak vowed that Warsaw would not cave in to demands by Brussels, arguing that Islamic migrant communities in Europe increased the threat of terrorism.

Waves of migrants

In September 2015, EU leaders agreed that each country in the bloc would accept a number of migrants over two years to alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy, which have seen waves of migrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa.

EU leaders agreed to relocate a total of about 160,000 migrants. Poland’s previous government led by the Civic Platform party agreed to take in over 6,000 people.

But after coming to power in October 2015, Poland's conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government staunchly opposed the move.

Humanitarian aid

Polish officials have repeatedly said that Poland is supporting those in need by increasing humanitarian aid to the victims of the war in Syria and by working with aid organisations to rebuild hospitals.

Poland’s previous Prime Minister Beata Szydło has said that helping in this way is not only cheaper but more effective, whereas EU migration policy was not putting a stop to additional waves of migrants to Europe.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP