epa05053057 A picture made available on 03 December 2015 shows migrants prevented from entering Macedonia waiting on the Greek side of the border between Greece and Macedonia, near the Greek village of Idomeni, 02 December 2015. Macedonian authorities allow only migrants from war-torn countries and heading for rich EU states to cross the country while citizens of other states regarded as economic migrants are blocked by a fence built by Macedonia along this section of the border. EPA/ZOLTAN BALOGH HUNGARY OUT Dostawca: PAP/EPA. Archiwum PAP/EPA © 2016 / ZOLTAN BALOGH

As part of European Union refugee relocation programmes Poland is to take in no more than 400 people from Greece and Italy in 2016, according to a draft government regulation that PAP has been able to access.

In September 2015 Poland accepted an EU decision on the distribution of refugees which assigned 5,000 refugees to Poland in addition to 2,000 that the country had agreed to take in earlier.

"These were not good decisions, but the Law and Justice (PiS) government is a stable government and we understand that there is continuity of rule; we also accept our predecessors' obligations, though within a scope that is possible for the state at this point", PM Beata Szydlo told a press conference on Tuesday when asked about the declared number of refugees set down in the draft.

"We are obliged to make declarations in which we specify our readiness to accept a certain number of refugees", she added.

She underlined that as regards migrant issues, the primary concern was the security of Poland and Poles. "Right now this is the number of refugees that we have expressed readiness to accept", she said.

"We want to take advantage of the right to decide what groups of refugees would come to Poland. There is another fundamental thing: people would have to be found who wanted to come to Poland. This process is still ahead of us", the PM also remarked.

Poland has to meet its obligations regarding the relocation from Greece and Italy of foreigners in need of international protection, to reduce the asylum pressure on those two countries, the draft document states.

The cost of refugee relocation to Poland in 2016 is estimated at over PLN 10 million. "For relocation to succeed, it is also necessary to build a special, effective integration programme for the foreigners being relocated", according to the draft. Some of the expenses will be reimbursed by the European Commission. (PAP)

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