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Executive Summary for June 15th

We review the latest issues related to refugees, including the Polish premier making migration comments at Auschwitz, the European Commission beginning legal action against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and Syrian refugees feared dead in London blaze.

Published on June 15, 2017 Read time Approx. 2 minutes

Polish Prime Minister Appears to Defend Anti-Migrant Policy at Auschwitz

Poland’s prime minister has been criticized for making apparently anti-migrant comments at Auschwitz. In a speech at the site, Beata Szydlo said Poland was right to defend its people at all costs.

“Auschwitz is a lesson showing that everything needs to be done to protect one’s citizens,” she said. The ceremony at which she was speaking commemorated the 77th anniversary of the first transport of prisoners to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Szydlo’s words, first relayed via a tweet from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, were interpreted as a defense of the party’s policy of refusing to resettle refugees in defiance of an E.U. scheme.

Responding on Twitter, Donald Tusk, European Council president and an ex-prime minister of Poland, said, “Such words in such a place should never come out from the mouth of a Polish prime minister.”

The PiS later deleted the tweet. A government spokesman stopped short of denying that the comments were connected to migration but said that people should listen to the entire speech before rushing to judge.

European Commission Launches Legal Action Against Visegrad Countries

The European Commission has launched legal action against three countries accused of sabotaging a refugee resettlement program. A formal letter has been sent to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

It is seen as the first step in a battle that could reach the European Court of Justice. In practice it is likely to mean some form of financial penalty if the courts find that the countries have not met their commitments under E.U. law.

Two years after the commission announced a program aimed at resettling 160,000 refugees, under “qualified majority support” from member states, the Czech Republic has received 12 people, while Hungary and Poland have taken in none.

“(Despite) repeated calls for action, these three countries remain in breach of their legal obligations and have shown disregard for their commitments to Greece, Italy and other member states,” the commission said in a statement.

The program was downsized earlier this year, but with three months to go to its expiry, fewer than 21,000 refugees have been resettled. The failure of the program is widely blamed on the Visegrad group of countries – the above trio plus Slovakia. Slovakia, which has resettled 16 refugees, narrowly avoided inclusion in the legal action.

Refugees Feared to Be Among Dead in London Inferno

A family of Syrian refugees is reported to be among those missing after a deadly fire in London. The blaze at a tower block in west London on June 14 has left dozens missing, feared dead.

The family of five is said to have been living around halfway up the 24-story Grenfell Tower. A local charity worker who had been assisting the daughters of the family to learn English has reported them missing.

Catherine Lindsay, from the Clement James Centre, told the Huffington Post they had not been heard from since the fire.

“I just hope that they are alive and well,” she said.

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