Paris Attack Further Complicates Refugee Crisis

A few of the Paris attackers were overheard telling hostages the attacks were in retaliation for France’s bombing of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Poland has said that it cannot accept migrants under new European Union relocate quotas after the attacks in Paris on Friday, in a move that could seriously undermine Europe’s refugee policy.

The relocation plan, agreed by the European Union in September, would see 160,000 refugees who registered in Italy, Greece and Hungary resettled around the 28 member states of the economic bloc.

Whether the passport reportedly recorded by migration officials on the Greek island of Leros more than a month earlier was that of a terrorist infiltrator or one of the thousands of counterfeits sold on black markets is unknown, – and probably likely irrelevant.

Along with increasing police and border controls, the minister said that security forces will also keep a close watch on far-right extremists.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks in which at least 127 people were killed, and French President Francois Hollande has deemed the attacks “a cowardly act of war”.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned against equating the latest terrorist attack in Europe with the peaceful migrants to for whom Europeans should be welcoming and supportive.

“This situation only confirms that we can not take in such a large number of immigrants as we are unable to make a watertight selection process and guarantee Poles security”, Macierewicz said.

The commitment to relocate refugees will be honored only if security guarantees are put in place, he stated, adding, however, that these guarantees were called into question in the light of the extreme violence which broke out in the French capital.

“However in the face of the tragic events in Paris, we see no political possibility of implementing them”, he wrote on the site.

Human Rights Watch EU Director Lotte Leicht criticized the minister designate’s comments, tweeting that Szymanski’s statements were a “ridiculous and ignorant response” to the terror attacks, and to refugees “flee[ing] war and persecution”. The plan has faced stiff opposition from central and eastern European countries.