Tomasz Gzell/PAP
The Polish Sejm, the lower house of parliament, rejected a Senate amendment to a new border protection law that aimed to lift restrictions on border areas and allow free access for journalists and humanitarian organisations.
The Sejm also rejected the other seven amendments introduced into the new legislation by the upper house.
The bill was drafted by the conservative ruling coalition United Right, which faced the expiration of the second and final period of a state of emergency authorized by the country’s constitution, during which access to the Poland-Belarus border area has been heavily restricted amid large-scale migration. crisis.
The new rules allow the Minister of the Interior to impose a temporary ban on access to areas bordering Belarus, Russia or Ukraine, including humanitarian organizations. Journalists would be allowed to stay in the border area, but only under conditions specified by border guards.
The Senate, which unlike the Sejm is dominated by opposition parties, wanted to give journalists free and unrestricted access to the restricted area of Poland.
President Andrzej Duda signed into law the legislation just hours after the Sejm voted, Duda’s chief aide Pawel Szrot told PAP on Tuesday evening.
Poland has been struggling for several months to stem a wave of migrants on the Belarusian side of the border. Some attempts by large groups of migrants to enter have been well organised, often with the help of the Belarusian security services.
Poland, other EU members and the United States have accused Belarus of causing the crisis in order to destabilize the EU.
