Sejm against EU migrant deal. Kaczyński: this issue must be the subject of a referendum

Under the deal each country would be responsible for a set number of people, but would not necessarily have to take them in.

Countries unwilling to receive irregular migrants and refugees arriving ad hoc to the EU would help their hosting peers through cash - around 20,000 euros per person - equipment or personnel.

Poland objects to the deal, saying that it has already taken in well over a million people fleeing the war in Ukraine and will not pay if it refuses to take in refugees from Africa and the Middle East.

"This issue must be the subject of a referendum and we will organise this referendum," Jarosław Kaczyński told Poland's lower house of parliament, the Sejm. "Poles must speak out on this matter."

He added that the issue in question would "determine the future of the European Union" and the EU agreement was "inconsistent with the treaties".

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during the debate that "we, the Poles, know all too well what compassion and solidarity mean". "No one will lecture us on solidarity, especially the Germans."

In his opinion, "this is no migration pact, this is a dictate aimed to change the culture of Europe, aimed to destroy, violate existing European structures". He added that such changes were clearly visible in other EU countries. "We will not agree to illegal migration, nor any payments for rejected migrants. We won't stand for it," Morawiecki stressed.

Poland's ruling nationalists law and Justice (PiS) were staunchly opposed to previous attempts by Brussels to relocate migrants using a quota system, citing security concerns.

The party has in the past been accused by human rights groups of stirring up xenophobia through its rhetoric on migration from majority-Muslim countries.

Poland has been at the forefront of efforts to help refugees from neighbouring Ukraine, and Kaczyński said the country had taken in 1.5 million to 2 million Ukrainians.