Most Poles would rather leave the European Union (EU) than have Brussels force migrants from third world nations on their country, a poll has shown.

Conducted by pollster IBRiS and published in weekly news magazine Polityka, the survey found that 57 per cent of respondents would be willing to forego EU development funds if it meant Poland retains sovereignty on the issue of accepting migrants from outside Europe.

The seventh-poorest, and fifth most populous nation in the bloc, Poland is the largest beneficiary of its development funds and membership has high support — with 71 per cent of Poles believing that belonging to the EU is a “good thing”, according to a March survey by Eurobarometer.

But the June survey, published Wednesday to coincide with a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump, showed that more than half of Poles would rather their country exit the 28-member economic and political union than be forced to surrender border controls to Brussels.

Head of IBRiS Marcin Duma told Bloomberg News that the government’s “anti-refugee rhetoric” has caused Poles to oppose the EU scheme, which insists that countries across the bloc be forced to welcome quotas of the thousands of migrants arriving in Europe weekly by boats — an influx the UN said it expects only to increase, and which consists mostly of young, male economic migrants.

Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has stood firm against the plan and, pointing to terror attacks in Western Europe, has argued that rejecting migrant quotas is the only way to keep the country safe.

Writing in Wpolityce, Konrad Kołodziejski slammed the frequent claim by liberals that Poles’ increasing resistance to the EU quota scheme was “due to PiS frightening people about Muslim immigration”.

“The truth is quite different”, said the veteran journalist, describing Poles’ disenchantment with Brussels as “the result of EU policy, EU leaders and their Polish puppets, who have for years now run a suicidal strategy of destroying European identity and replacing it with a volcanic multicultural mishmash”.

“It will not result — as liberal elites would like — in the creation of a harmonious society, devoid of any identity or culture.”

Urging Europeans to “wake up”, Kołodziejski writes: “Watching what is happening today in Western Europe, revealing its weaknesses both civilisational and demographic, we instead see Islam becoming stronger and more aggressive.

“It is utterly wrong to say Poland is anti-European,” he concludes. “The liberal elite is possessed with the Bolshevik mission of building a new society, and to do so they are lighting the fuse to set fire to, and destroy European civilisation.

“We do not want to take part in this suicide.”