Poland’s former President Lech Walesa has accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of “behaving irrationally and shortsightedly” over migration from eastern European countries as the UK premier steps up his opposition to free movement in the European Union (EU).
In an interview with Poland’s TVN24 on Monday, Walesa said Cameron should be grateful to his country for bringing down communism that Britain profited from.
The Nobel prize winner also criticized the British Conservative party leader for not understanding Europe.
“Poles finished communism and Great Britain profited significantly from this. [Cameron] should not forget this, he should do the maths. He should realise that Poles finished with this system at the cost of 70% of their economy,” Walesa said.
The criticism came after Cameron said it was a “huge mistake” not to impose transitional controls on Polish migration in the past decade when the country joined the EU.
Poland’s ex-Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, however, hit out at the UK premier over his recent comments about migration from the 28-nation bloc.
In a two-day summit in Brussels last week, Cameron called on European leaders to impose restrictions on the free movement of migrant workers from poor countries that will join the EU in the future.
He also threatened to veto any bids for the future enlargements of the bloc unless stricter immigration controls are introduced.
In an article in The Financial Times last month, he raised the prospect of imposing a cap on migration from new EU member states until they have reached a certain income or economic output per head.
The remarks came amid escalating concerns over an influx of Romanians and Bulgarians to the UK in January 2014, when EU working restrictions are lifted.
Meanwhile, Cameron announced earlier this month that he was rushing out regulations to stop EU migrants being able to immediately claim welfare benefits.
Under the new measures, EU nationals will also have their payments stopped after six months unless they can prove they have a “genuine” prospect of employment.
Moreover, those migrants found begging or sleeping rough could be deported and banned from re-entry to Britain for 12 months.
SSM/NN
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/25/341818/uk-pm-acting-irrationally-on-migration/
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