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ABSTRACT
Since 2015, the European Union and its members have been responding to the increased arrivals of migrants and refugees at Europe’s southern shores. The states and societies of East and Central Europe are rarely discussed in this context. Even though their governments support the overall EU policy objectives in the area of freedom, security and justice, they vocally refused to participate in EU ‘burden sharing’. In this way these countries earned the label of uniquely xenophobic. This article seeks to complicate this perception by highlighting how civil society in Poland responded to the right-wing Polish government’s anti-refugee stance. Through the lens of Aronoff and Kubik’s concept of Legal Transparent Civil Society (LTCS) the author examine the evolving relationship between the ruling Law and Justice party and civil society organizations, proposing that activities for the benefit of refugees offer an insight into the transformation of civil society in the emerging illiberal political system.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For up to date quantitative information on the maritime situation see UNHCR data portal at https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean
2. On June 14th 2017 the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland (and Hungary and Czechia) ‘for non-compliance with obligations under the 2015 Council Decisions on relocation’ (European Commission 2017). As of April 2018 those procedures remained ongoing.
3. The interview with PM Morawiecki by CNN is available at https://youtu.be/gksyz6s2tvU (accessed 10 May 2018). PM Szydło made her comments following the May 21, 2017 attack in Manchester (https://youtu.be/3BO7C_9xizk accessed 10 May 2018).
4. Statistics of asylum application filings dating back to 1992, with country of origin are available on the website of the Foreigners Office at https://udsc.gov.pl/statystyki/raporty-okresowe/zestawienia-roczne/ (accessed May 10, 2018).
5. Some issues, such as job counseling, language training and other integration measures, are within the competence of local authorities and depending on the local situation local NGOs might be sheltered from national level politics by virtue of operating in a more friendly political environment at the local level (as was the case in Warsaw, ruled by Civic Platform, where I conducted my research).
6. The actual number is most likely significantly higher, including persons of irregular status and residing in Warsaw temporarily (Dudkiewicz, Citation2016, 49).
7. For similar arguments focusing on Islam and islamophobia see Narkowicz and Pędziwiatr (Citation2017).
8. These figures cover legal residents, i.e. those who granted residence permits (see the statistics of the Foreigners Office available at www.migracje.gov.pl). Estimates say that there are over 1 million Ukrainian citizens in Poland owing to a liberal system of work visas, which PiS spokespersons have sought to represent as a way in which Poland ‘helps Ukrainian refugees’ (see e.g., OKO.press, Citation2016).
9. Ukrainians in Poland occupy the treacherous position of ‘culturally proximate’, relatively desirable economic migrants who, unprotected in the labor market, ‘do the work no one else wants to do’ (Follis Citation2012). As we know from the examples of other migrant receiving societies, shifting politics can rapidly turn such perceptions into accusations of ‘job stealing’ and violent hostility (Rzepnikowska, Citation2017; see also Apostolova, Citation2016).
10. Kallius makes a similar argument in relation to the Hungarian policy of fence-building around its borders (Kallius, Citation2017).
11. On the historical evolution of the EU border regime, see e.g., van Houtum, Citation2010; Neal, Citation2009.
12. It must be said that budgets for security far exceed humanitarian expenditure. In 2017 the EU earmarked 6 billion Euros for tackling the ‘migration crisis’ and border security while 1 billion was reserved for humanitarian aid across all regions (European Commission 2017).
13. See note 1.
14. The other ones were Polish Medical Mission and Free Syria which received minor funding.
15. Helping Syrian refugees is one part of PCPM’s portfolio. Other programmes run in Kenya, Georgia, Ukraine and Palestine and South Sudan.