Between a Europe of Walls and a Europe of Open Doors
7 Nov 2023
Tuesday, November 14 at 10:30 am CET
Gazeta Wyborcza via their facebook
Between a Europe of Walls and a Europe of Open Doors: How to Address Migration Challenges?
Migration was one of the key issues dominating Poland’s latest parliamentary election campaign. Projecting fears of mass rapes and killings, the ruling Law and Justice party warned voters that the country may soon be flooded by a wave of immigration from the Middle East and Africa, and accused the European Union of wanting to force Poland to accept refugees. The opposition, in turn, accused PiS of hypocrisy, citing the cash-for-visas scandal, i.e. the apparent fast-tracking of thousands of Polish work visas in African and Asian countries in exchange for large sums of money and without proper checks. Along with all that come mounting reports of human rights violations at the Polish-Belarusian border. For the past two years, the illegal and brutal practices of border guard officers have cost the lives of some 50 migrants.
The campaign is now over, but questions about migration remain. What kind of policy should the new Polish government pursue? How to put an end to the still ongoing tragic situation on the Polish-Belarusian border? How to talk about migration in the European Union? What should a Europe-wide policy on this issue look like and how to implement it?
Together with renowned experts and journalists, we will discuss these topics as part of Europe Talks, a series of events meant to encourage EU citizens to have unfiltered conversations about the most pressing and polarising issues of today.
Speakers include:
Hanna Machińska, Poland’s former Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights
Dominika Pszczółkowska, Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw
Claudia Ciobanu, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Joanna Klimowicz, Gazeta Wyborcza
The discussion will be moderated by Bartosz Wieliński, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza.
