Poland halted asylum-claim registration for migrants entering from Belarus in March 2025 and now urges the EU to allow temporary suspensions during “instrumentalized” mass migration. The Commission says it will propose an emergency framework, but its scope remains unclear.
Poland’s deputy interior minister, Maciej Duszczyk, says the policy complies with international law and that pregnant women, children and people facing persecution in Belarus can still apply. A Polish migrant-aid group disputes whether vulnerable people can do so in practice. Rights advocates warn that suspending access to asylum could breach protections, including the ban on returning people to places where they may face persecution.
Von der Leyen said the framework would allow flexibility in standard migration procedures in specific circumstances and for a limited time, but did not identify which procedures. It is also unclear whether the plan needs approval from the European Parliament and EU leaders. The EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact, which took effect three months earlier, already lets countries in border crises extend asylum-processing deadlines and detain migrants longer. Duszczyk said the Commission was expected to provide details at an Oct. 1 interior ministers’ meeting; talks would continue at a European Council summit later that month.
