Council Pres To Meet w/Polish PM As Border Standoff Escalates

Press secretary to European Council President Charles Michel confirms that Michel will make a previously-unscheduled trip to Warsaw on Wednesday 10 Nov to meet with Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki.

• The impromptu meeting comes as the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border escalates. Thousands of Middle Eastern and Asian migrants are seeking to cross the border, with the intention of settling in Western Europe. Polish police and security forces have erected barriers and fired blanks into the air to deter the migrants.
• EU, Poland and other member states have said Belarus' Lukashenko regime, as well as the Russian gov't, are facilitating the migrant caravan in an effort to destabilise the EU.
• Poland remains in a difficult legal situation. Under EU law it is entitled to physically defend the border of the Schengen zone with barriers and utilising force. However, it is also obliged to take in migrants/asylum seekers if it is believed they would face mistreatment or harm by being turned back. Polish gov't and conservatives in EU arguing Putin and Lukashenko can't be allowed to 'win' by allowing migrant into EU. Social liberals arguing it is obligation of Poland to take in the migrants no matter the situation given the dire circumstances they face in the 'no man's land' between Polish and Belarusian borders.